


Megatron

by Tigressa101



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007), Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Horror, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Dark Past, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, Monster Megatron, Original Character Death(s), Past Character Death, Possible Character Death, Psychological Horror, Questionable Ending, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 07:25:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17320580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigressa101/pseuds/Tigressa101
Summary: (TFP AU; characters from other universes included) Jackson Darby's granddaughter, Kaylana, is now one of the many targets of the mythical Cybertronian tyrant, who's species mysteriously disappeared from Earth 85 years ago. Old Jack tries to help his last decedent but also seeks the reason behind the Cybertronians' unexplained departure.*The story is from 2015 so I apologize if there are any grammar errors*





	1. I Scream, You Scream

James Epps loaded the truck with the cement and other construction utilities as his co-workers managed the Cat equipment vehicles. 

“Hey, Epps, got a question!”

James met his boss with a handshake before the latter set down his coffee with a disappointed frown. “The stocks and budget we’re working with has plummeted due to postponement with several of the trucks. Why is that?”

“Oh, we’ve run into some trouble with vehicles 92-T and 50-B, one’s front axle gave out and the other’s experiencing engine problems. Seems to be a loose rock got lodged in it. Finally gave up this morning. Sorry, sir, we’re doing everything we can to fix it and get back on track.”

The boss nodded, “Good, we…ah…can’t afford any more delays because our paychecks depend on punctuality. See to it you’re at least up and running by tomorrow. I don’t want our family being broken up any time soon.”

James smiled, “You got it, boss!” He felt his shoulder being hit in friendly manner before he heard his boss take off to pep talk another worker. 

Something purple and fiery caught the corner of his eye, making him scoff and set down his tools in frustration, “What now…”

Many voices called out as he turned.

“Look at that.”

“I’ve never seen something so beautiful.”

“Do you think we’re going to die?”

He froze when he saw a meteorite, bigger than any of their trucks he wagered, streak down the atmosphere, heading somewhere close by. It grew larger before a loud boom shattered the sound barrier and all cars within a mile of them were awakening with various honks and alarms. It was still growing until less than a mile away, it hit the surface, making the closest buildings crumble. 

The Earth seemed to wobble on impact, windows exploded from their places among the towering structures, various objects literally jumped about a foot in the air before settling once more on the ground. 

Then silence. Nobody moved. Their radios and cell phones suddenly relayed static, as if the meteorite was blocking the signal more so than the power that, of course, surged and died when it made contact with the Earth. What was even more mysterious was what seemed to emit from the static. Epps swore it sounded like robotic clicking and a soft groan. It was his imagination; his mind was trying to get over the unexpected event but was still in shock.

A co-worker of his, Barley, ran to his side with awe. “Dude, we need to check it out.”

Epps scowled, “Hell no, dude! Have you ever seen horror movies? If we go there, we can die or I’ll die and you’ll have a one-way trip to the psychiatric ward in an asylum. The black guy always dies first. I ain’t risking shit!”

Barley sneered, “It fell in an open area and you’ll have a team of fifty or so people, paparazzi, and what not. You’ll be fine, you big pansy.”

“Hey, don’t call me names, white boy! If you want to figure what that thing is out, I’m staying here! Have fun getting killed.”

“Whatever,” the co-worker shouted back as he and almost everybody else abandoned their stations to see what had landed across the bay.

Epps shook his head at the stupidity of his co-workers. They wanted to risk life, that’s fine. He’ll be the one laughing in the end. He set down another bag of cement before he heard the familiar footsteps of his boss once more.

“Where are all my workers!?”

“They left to visit the crash site.”

“Wh-why?”

“Because they’re morons, that’s why!”

His boss pinched the bridge of his nose, “Since we’re alone, can you walk with me. I’ve been curious as of late about a few things and you’re one of my most trusted workers.”

“Sure,” Epps shrugged as he followed the guy into the building they were working on.

The complex structure they were designing was all but perfect. Epps hated it but his workers as well as he relished their pay so there was no choice in the matter. It was a take it or leave it scenario that none of them could afford to lose. 

“You know I’ve been thinking, our company needs a new president and since we’re located across the U.S., the presidency is a big thing. What do you think of this?”

They marveled at the pillars that held the upper level as they continued to walk. “I think it’s time for some changes but the U.S.’ system of operation is so screwed right now. I would wait to change out our company leader until the right opportunity presents itself.”

“Stay here, I want to surprise you with gift from the company. They’ve looked at your status and are really impressed. Guess your grandfather’s luck stayed with you all these years.”

“Yeah, good old Grandpa Robert Epps. Rest in peace, Gramps.”

He leaned against one of the pillars as his boss ran around a corner and presumably up the stairway. Impatiently, he brought out a cigarette and lit it, savoring the taste and the effects that put his mind at ease.

Several minutes passed and his boss hadn’t return. No movement above and no sound on his level. It wasn’t like the guy to ditch his worker or leave in general. Whatever his surprise was, it seemed awfully big. Epps couldn’t take it any longer. Snuffing his cigarette out on the floor, he followed the supposed path of his boss and called his superior.

“Yo, Boss! Frank! Come on, this isn’t funny anymore. Whatever you was trying to prove, do it now or I’ll come up there and give you a surprise of my own called my fist in your face!”

No response. He quickly scaled the stairs, muttering to himself until he reached the top and nearly had a heart attack at the sight.

Blood oozed down the left wall, occasionally spitting out from air bubbles like magma clumps. A trail of it was dragged from where he stood to another room on the right. On the window that was just before the entrance to the room, a multiple red smeared handprints clawed relentlessly at it, formerly hoping to open it to scream for help. Visible at his angle, a gaping room-wide hole to the outside lay within the left room, like something thirty feet tall tore it out. There were dents in the doorframe which he assumed this giant thing reached through and caught his boss before he could run down the stairway. How could he have not heard that? Unless…

A clanking noise made James spin around so fast, the Flash wouldn’t even be able to do it quicker. In another room, somebody was here. Taking the hammer from his belt which he kept on him at all times, he slowly made his way to the chamber. When he entered, blood was also visible here but it was everywhere and no trail was left. The wall that separated this room from the one where the hole was also had a huge space. Whatever crashed through here certainly had no respect for property, that’s for sure. 

Behind him, sheer darkness dominated it despite it was daytime. Light reflected off metal that seemed to stretch all the way to the other rooms aligned with it despite only a strip of light revealed a streak of gray. He couldn’t tell if they had walls either. 

“Son of a bitch,” he said breathlessly as he observed every detail of the bloody scene before him. 

Static once more clogged his radio, making a deafening screech that made him jump slightly. Right before he had the chance to turn it off, a low growl made goose bumps form on his body. He froze again, listening beyond the annoying static to hear cracking like stiff car joints moving after not being able to for over a decade. Robotic even. 

Red suddenly seemed to reflect off the walls which to him meant whatever it was seemed to be right behind him. He didn’t have a chance to see what it was before something sharp punctured his waist and abdomen, making him scream and fall forward on the ground. 

He desperately tried to crawl away but no avail. He lost track of how many times his body was stabbed, being skinned alive. He screams were drowned by the sound of ripping flesh; the pain that followed was unbearable. He caught a glimpse of red along with large shark-like jagged teeth stabbing into him, desperately trying to get every chunk of meat possible. Bones being torn out, muscle and flesh being torn from his bloody figure. Like being eaten by piranhas; he was still alive.

The creature roared as he tried to hit it as hard as he could. The hammer hit something and the echo of glass-like material cracking was enough inspiration to keep him fighting back. The blur of gray kept him blinded from what he wanted to strike at, but a part of him that was ignoring the pain, the only working sane part now, knew he wouldn’t live either way.

His lower spine detached and vanished inside the creature’s mouth. His arms, as well as the grasped dented hammer, severed from him in mere seconds. He still screamed. Only when he caught a good glimpse of his predator did his cries die as his head was engulfed in the black void of its jaws. The last sight he witnessed.  
\--------------------------------------------------

“Boss? James? False alarm! The meteorite shattered on impact, nothing remains!” Barley exclaimed. He and his co-workers’ smiles faded. “Guys?”

Suddenly, he felt something drip on his face. Pat Pat Pat. He wiped it off before he looked at it and a fellow co-worker in confusion. “Do we have red paint?”

“N-no, sir.”

Barley suddenly sprinted to the stairs and in fear yelled, “James! Frank!”

Everybody followed with the same panic including, Lani, James’ wife who had heard of the meteorite being in her husband’s area and wanted to check on him. She was faster than Barley but before she could reach the top, the building shook as a loud, thunderous noise rattled throughout it and the sound of a jet echoed just seconds behind. 

Lani regained her balance and climbed up and as the others reached her position, they heard her shriek in terror, tears running down her face like a waterfall of sorrow. Barley went to her side before putting his hand to his mouth, wide eyes staring down at fresh blood that was scattered throughout the three rooms that had been opened by force to one another. The thing that made them bellow even more was the alien claw-prints that were as wide as a human teenager and as deadly looking as a monster.

If there was a God…well, what God would create this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Megatron's back, baby! I'll explain later why he's after said descendants soon enough. To be honest, I really wish there was a horror film about Megatron. No Autobots, no Decepticons, just Megatron himself taking sweet revenge on the children of his human enemies.
> 
> I know how I mentioned the movie ordeal where the black guy dies first and the first descendant to die is Robert Epps' grandson, who is black. Sorry if that seems racist but one of Kaylana's friends is black and a descendant and (spoiler alert) he doesn't die. I won't reveal much else but hint: only few survive and it's not who you think.


	2. Family

_“James Epps and Frank Miller, co-worker and boss of the construction field of the Aviar Tech building, were found gruesomely in pieces inside the second floor of the building. Though it was actually Frank’s body whom was found at the scene of the crime, Epps’ remains are missing but blood samples on the walls indicate he was brutally injured and quite possibly dead._

_“Lani, James’ devoted wife, is with child so the city council believe whomever did this will come back for her and any other family. She’s being placed with security twenty-four seven until said otherwise._

_“Conspiracists believe the tragic losses had to do with the meteorite that crash landed in an open field near Erie Lake, just outside of Detroit. When reporters and personnel arrived at the scene, the crash site was barren, leaving most to assume it shattered on impact and a majority of it was scattered into the woods and lake. The Conspiracists also have implied that this may be the work of aliens, who have come to wipe out humanity and Epps was just an unlucky victim…”_

The TV quickly changed to a different station with a scowling woman holding the remote. “I can’t believe this crap! Hey, Grandpa? You remember the stories you used to tell me when I was five about alien robotic creatures and how they crashed down on Earth like meteorites?”

“That’s ‘Autonomous Robotic Organisms’ from the planet of Cybertron! Jeez, if you’re going to remember my tales, remember them how I said it! Don’t butcher what I say in the process!”

Grandpa Jack knew more about the legend of the “Transformers” than any other human being, besides from perhaps Sari, their neighbor and long-time friend of the Darby’s. If you misnamed a Cybertronian, he was on your ass about it like a hawk. Max, his son and her father, was just as cruel, but it all went towards Grandpa with an opposite approach. He didn’t believe his father so the quarrels between the two were endless.

It just so happens, it was one of those weekends where the family got together for a week at Grandpa’s home, so the bickering between father and son was strong.

“Whatever,” she sighed as she clicked through a few more channels. She suddenly winced in pain when Grandpa’s cane smacked her on the head. “What the Fu…!”

“Ah, ah, ah! Watch your language, missy! I raised you better than that, I did! You do not insult the Cybertronians or else…”

“‘…Or else the evil warlord will sneak into your house and snatch you from your bed and you’ll never see daylight again.’ I know, I get it! I get the concept. Why were you so obsessed with the Cybertronians anyway? Not that I don’t believe you, but what makes you so inspired by them?” Kaylana asked before placing the remote on the table and lying back on the couch curiously.

Grandpa sat beside her carefully. His eyes never meeting hers but they were still full of imagination and mystery; she could see that just by looking at his right eye while the other was hidden from view. “I was a teenager, like you and your father once were and surprisingly with the same stubbornness, but my life changed in the year of 2010. It’s been ninety years since I met them and eighty-five since they disappeared from my life as well as many others’. They had been on Earth, of course, for over twenty years, but I only knew them for eight years.

“Those five years, many marvelous things happened that nobody in your generation, or your father’s, could ever comprehend. I’m one hundred and two years old, Kaylie, one-hundred and two! Not many of my generation who has lived to see them remains to this day. Me, Will Lennox, Sari Sumdac, Miko Nakadai, and Raf Esquivel are the only known living people to have actually interacted with them. An experience like that doesn’t just go away or become forgotten with a matter of years. My obsession is my life, the way it was.”

Kaylana began to open her mouth when her father entered, smirking while shaking his head. “Keep feeding her these stories and all you’re going to do is inspire her to chase after a myth.”

“What, you don’t believe him?”

“Yeah, Max, tell me why you don’t believe me!” 

Max growled, “Because you don’t have any evidence that they existed! It’s all in your head as well as Sari’s and Miko’s. Face it, Dad, they are just fantasy creatures, just like dragons and just like the boogeyman.” 

Grandpa snarled, “I’ll have you know that there were dragons and monsters back then too! They weren’t very pleasant but in the end, they sided with Optimus Prime when he tamed their leader and forced upon her a truce so she could live on this planet and prosper as much as the Cybertronians could. That was as long as she promised not to harm or kill any more humans or Cybertronians.”

“She? So the dragons are hot girls now who had sexual intercourse with robots? You’re losing it, Dad.”

“Sex!? I highly doubt that female would frag any one before killing them. Optimus made her bow by beating her in battle, not through interface!”

Irritated, Kaylana rubbed her temples before calling out, “Mom! You believe Grandpa’s story, right?”

In their household, Mom’s word was law. If she said to do something or that she thought something was right, nobody questioned her. 

As her mother was passing through she muttered, “I’m not a part of this therefore I do not exist in this conversation. You deal with it.”

Max shot his daughter a look of success while she slowly slipped into a ball, returning his smug look with a growl. “You shouldn’t ask your mom about these things. When you’re in the realm of arguments about Cybertronian fairy tales, nobody can save you.”

Suddenly, a happy giggle sounded from the other room and Kaylana felt relief course through her mind fast like a bullet. Saved by the baby. She smiled when she entered the room and left the two men to deal with the “Autonomous Robotic Organisms”. Her smile could only grow as she saw her beautiful five year old daughter, Maia, playing with Grandpa’s four dogs all named after the supposed Transformers.

All of his life, Grandpa Jack had dogs as his companions, each named to a specific Transformer. His twenties and thirties had a Husky named Arcee, a Rottweiler named Wheeljack, a Greyhound named Soundwave, and a Great Dane named Optimus Prime. Forties, fifties, and sixties, he had two golden and black Labradors named Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus, a Pit-bull named Ratchet, a Collie named Starscream, and a Mastiff named Breakdown. Seventies, eighties, and nineties, he owned a poodle named Knockout, a Dalmatian named Smokescreen, a Collie named Dreadwing, and a Doberman named Predaking. 

Now, he had another Husky named Arcee 2, two Russian Bear Dogs named Bulkhead and Megatron (though he ranted on how he hated the name but that it and Bulkhead were the only ones that fit the breed of dog), and a German Shepard named Shockwave because it had lost one eye as a puppy. The oldest was Megatron at nine years and the youngest being Arcee 2 at two years. His choices in dogs were questionable since a majority of them were not to be with children unsupervised, but Megatron and Bulkhead didn’t mind the child.

Grandpa was the ultimate dog man alive.

Megatron and Bulkhead slept while the child climbed over them, leading Arcee 2 from Shockwave who was becoming rough. She eventually got to the other side of the bear dog brigade and slid down Megatron’s belly; the latter grunted in response. “Mama, can I go outside?”

Kaylana sat down to let Maia crawl onto her lap. “No, not right now. Besides, it’s warmer in here than out there. You wouldn’t want to get chilly, would you?”

The girl shook her head before petting Arcee 2 who had placed her own head on Kaylana’s thigh.

“Mama?”

“Yes, dear?”

“If the doggies were named after the robots in Grandpa Two’s stories, who was Megatron and Arcee and Bulkhead?”

The words stalled in her mouth. She didn’t know who they were. The only person who would know is Jack himself.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------

_Across the city…_

William Lennox pet his Doberman, Black Hawk, as his daughter, Annabelle, set up the dining room table for dinner. Her own daughter, Reanna, comforted his wife and her grandmother as all three watched the news. 

“Do they honestly believe that meteorite just grew legs, got up, and walked away?” Reanna mused.

Lennox didn’t smile but Sarah did; he just stared at it with an unreadable expression. 

“Granddad, are you okay?”

“It seems a bit off, this whole meteorite thing does.”

Annabelle snarled, “Leave it! It’ll pass in a few weeks. I don’t want any superstition in this house, no thank you. I’m not jinxing my life on a mere coincidence. You won’t either, Dad!”

Will grumbled something inaudible but said nothing aloud.   
\---------------------------------------------

_East of the Darby’s…_

Miko sighed as the news went on and on about the unusual murders. But when the bit about the meteorite disappearing began, she raised a brow. ‘Aliens?’ 

The thought of such a thing didn’t make sense. Their planet always had sightings but no aliens had presented themselves thus far so it would be unlikely for it to happen now. Her cat, Wrecker, was more of an alien to her than the actual supposed aliens. That cat wasn’t right but it was hers.

Reluctantly, she turned the TV off and stood up, passing her sleeping nephew and grandson, Jake and Connor, as she slowly moved into her bedroom. It was filled with old rock ‘n’ roll albums, late heavy metal posters and accessories, and five guitars sitting on the wall collecting dust. Upon moving to her bed, she stubbed her toe on something under it and cursed silently. 

Curiosity always got the better of her. She bent down and grabbed the box before placing it on her bed. Opening it, she let out a startled gasp. It held pictures of her youth, specifically her high school career. Jack and Raf were present in some while other various things popped up. The memories that the pictures remembered were too great to handle. Each carried a story, adventurous, dangerous, often from her doing. Then she saw the photo that changed her life.

Two mechs stood together, one bulky and green, the other medium build and white with green and red streaks; Bulkhead and Wheeljack. Her two non-human best friends she had learned a great deal from. Another had a blue stricter-looking bot with them inside a military hangar; Ultra Magnus. The Wreckers. Her family. 

It was too long ago when she watched monster truck derbies with Bulkhead and saw an enormous grin on his grey face. Too long was it when she became a Wrecker and battled Starscream and tricked Soundwave. She survived the Predacon, escaped the Nemesis, and threatened Megatron; she lived. She experienced living life to the fullest and no one could say otherwise. She was in her prime.

Prime. Optimus Prime. Her memories of the noble leader were just as powerful. She remembered the one time she took a selfie with him in his alt. mode. He was asleep apparently. 

Cybertronians, Transformers, family. What difference did it make? 

A frown instantly appeared on her face. The meteorite was gone and evidence that it actually was there somewhat disappeared with it. Her eyes suddenly widened. 

It couldn’t be, could it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lennox's family will be explained in later chapters and Raf and Sari will come in soon but I think some death is in order next, don't you? And yes, Jack named one of the dogs Megatron. And he has two Russian bear dogs. Deal with it.


	3. Into the Woods

Sniffing and growling, he moved through the trees, claws digging up dirt as he navigated the forest terrain. Any animals he passed quickly hid or scrambled away as fast as they could. He was at the edge of the city line where forest and the beginning of the populated area collided. Not many humans lived out here but one in particular did and thanks to the World Wide Web, he knew where all his targets lived. Thank you, government, for having all records of former human ally pests. 

His next target lived beside the forest line with an abandoned park nearby. 

Perfect hunting.

“And that’s when I said ‘Hey, this is my place not yours!’ He literally started balling tears within minutes!”

Audio receptors picked up more conversation from his next descendant and a prominent scowl cracked upon his scarred face. Eddie Whitmann, grandson to the late Glen Whitmann, and his fiancée, Jocelyn Smith, soon to bear his child. 

He couldn’t allow that now, could he?   
\---------------------------------------------

Eddie laughed as Jocelyn told him about their first meeting when he accidently dumped water on himself after picking the vase off the stand too quickly to present flowers to her. 

_Cr-rack Crack_

His head turned too fast for his mind to process. But despite his fast reflexes, his senses were a little off. A few seconds of staring into the barely sunlit trees did he realize nothing was there; it was his imagination. He continued to observe the wilderness just to make sure but still there was no sign of any creature big enough to make that. It was probably just some deer.

“Baby, are you alright? What’s wrong?”

Eddie broke free from his trance, “N-nothing! Nothing, I just…thought I heard an animal passing through.”

Suddenly, she let out a scream and this time, he didn’t bother turning around. Instead he grabbed her and flung both her and himself off the pathway, only to miss being crushed by a large clawed fist by a mere second.  Shielding her, he made both of them run towards a thankfully barren playground covered in overgrowth and moss.  Fear grew as loud footsteps quickly raced behind them, not showing signs of slowing down.

A feral growl sounded almost a few feet away, literally breathing down his neck. But as soon as he went under a platform, a loud metal against metal rang out and he slowed down, bringing his fiancée close to him. He peered back to see the lower part of a face pull up with a moan. Whatever it was certainly hit its head hard. 

Good.

_Squeak Squeak Squeak_

The swings just a few feet away began to move judging by the noise. The chains then rattled as he saw the edge of a spiked shadow move across one of the many exits from under the main playground house. However, there were no footsteps so how could the shadow move like that? 

His fiancée began whimpering as she pressed against him. She was scared but he was even more frightened. The roof above the platform they were under began creaking as the shadow finally dwarfed them. A large metallic grey throat, he presumed, was now over them with only a plastic platform separating him from whatever that thing was. When he got a better view of the throat, he noticed scars ran in all directions, some bigger than others, some deeper and more fresh than others. Dried blue liquid was visible among the scars but what made him nearly piss his pants was the red dried blood that stained not only its throat, but its chin and visible head.

The head lowered before it rested on the platform, covering all the holes but the blackness moved slightly for lighter shades took over. Both of them stayed deathly silent.

Red instantly lit up the entire ground and they found themselves staring up into a bright red eye with a single iris ring of white. Cracks were visible in the middle and spread into fifteen branches across it. The iris then moved up to see them and a roar then rumbled the playground equipment, forcing Jocelyn to scream. It then turned its head so both eyes were trained on the couple before it crashed into the platform, shattering it. Teeth cut into Eddie’s arm but didn’t catch it.

Eddie and Jocelyn bolted from the playground to the road ahead which was barely visible due to the density of the row of trees. He looked back again to see the massive grey monster attempting to pull its head free from the now collapsed end of the house. A few more tugs and finally the thick plastic gave way and the mechanical beast was fully upright and enraged. The human got a good glimpse of it before pushing past the tree line into the side of the road where several cars zoomed past.

Not wanting to risk life in the hands of that thing, they crossed the street immediately and when they stopped on the other side, there was no sign of the monster. Both peered back to the playground to find it once again abandoned but this time with half of it destroyed.

Jocelyn cried as a few cars pulled over to their aid before a police cruiser joined them. In a few minutes, several cop cars were by their side, the police asked questions while a group with a canine scoped out the area for the supposed intruder. “So a metal monster attacked you? Sir, have you and your mistress been drinking?”

“No, I assure you. You can test us right now!” Eddie snarled impatiently, “Look, I know what I saw! WE know what we saw!”

The officer clutched his notebook before smacking his lips with a sigh.

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose, “I need to talk to Jack Darby. He’ll probably have some explanation to this whole thing.”

“Darby?” The officer sneered, “Crazy Old Jack? That nutter doesn’t know shit. Lies, all of it, and I’m starting to think you’re becoming off yourself. It wasn’t a Cyber-whatever the hell he calls it! There’s no aliens, no robots, no monsters. Capiche?” 

He couldn’t believe the policeman in front of him, mocking him. He knew what he saw, and he would be damned if he took his information to the grave with nobody to understand it. “Alright, I’ll go find him myself.”

He turned away and dragged Jocelyn with him before the officer began laughing at him. “You’re wasting your time, boy! Old Jack is a loon, and judging by you wanting to seek him out, you must be just as insane! Have fun at the nuthouse that is Darby’s!”

Eddie bit his tongue as many words came to mind on what he wanted to yell back at the officer, but that would probably screw him over even more. The only thing he could do is hope Jack had some notion of what that robot was since he was the alien expert of the late twenty-first century.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------

Lennox rattled TV remote in frustration as the channel he was on suddenly fizzed into static. “Goddammit! Reanna, this stupid box died on me!” 

“Just…turn it off! We’ll fix it later!”

He growled, “This is my only entertainment in this God forsaken world! Without it, I’ll die right here right now!”

“You’ll live at least another month, so I highly doubt TV’s going to be the death of you,” she replied from another room.

He heard the doors to the backyard open and close with the laughter of Sarah emitting from the same room. He scowled at his wife’s hideous sense of humor against him.

Lennox had never grown accustomed to the new world. Though the world hadn’t changed much, the technology was more advanced than in his Major years in the military. There were a few flying cars being tested, and every home had an Aviar Tech system in it (the Microsoft Windows’ successor), but in all honesty, nothing really has changed in other categories. For instance, world hunger’s still here and World War 3 seems inevitable once more. His one pet peeve about the new world was the ill-mannered delinquents, the terrible music that they even bothered to call songs, and the empty feeling he had and to this day still has ever since the day the Cybertronians disappeared. 

Sarah had to help him through his depression somewhere in his thirties when Ironhide, his favorite truck in the whole goddamn universe, suddenly flashed into his mind once more. He couldn’t even look at those types of trucks ever again without bursting into tears. He once thought of suicide, but what would that achieve? It would certainly end the pain but it was possible Ironhide wouldn’t be waiting on the other side for him. Whether alive or dead, Ironhide couldn’t wait for him; fate and the Gods wouldn’t allow such a thing.

_Boom_

He froze at the sound. His cup of water beside him rippled as another faint rumble hit. The lights flickered before surging brightly and shattering. 

“Dad? Mom? Reanna?” Annabelle called out before entering the living room. “Dad, I think we had a power outage from a small earthquake. Are you okay?”

“I’m not dead, so that’s something!”

She rolled her eyes at her father’s sarcasm. 

_Boom Cr-r-rack_

“Anna, I don’t think that’s an earthquake. That was a tree falling and something pushing it. Go find Reanna now! She’s outside with whatever that is!”

Instantly, Annabelle split to the dining room where the backyard doors were located before a shriek escaped her throat. When Lennox reached the room, he saw her head moving from where her mother was to the outside area. He shuffled to her before he himself held a hand to his mouth.

Sarah, with her eyes staring directly at the doors, sat motionless upon her rocking chair. Her expression was that of fear. She died of a heart attack. But to what?

In all his years with her, Lennox had never seen her so afraid. Even in death, the expression sent chills down his spine. And as she died, his last feeling to her was that of hate for her mocking him. His last words to her were jokingly “you old hag”. He didn’t get to say one last “I love you”; he mocked her before her passing and guilt was a cold dagger now embedded in his heart.

As soon as he turned around, his own heart tore in agony. Reanna’s body parts lined their five oak trees like bloody Christmas decorations suited for a killer. Blood stained the trees giving them a glossy red finish to their needles. When Will peered towards the ground, he saw clawed handprints running to and fro the shed and forest nearby. It matched no animal in existence, for it was human-like. Human-like!? By the structure of the handprint and the size, only one monster would do this out of all its kind.

“He’s back! He’s back! He’s back!” Lennox cried as he clutched chest.

Annabelle looked at him in tears, “Who is?”

“Jack! I-I need to warn Jack and the others about him! He’s back!”

“Yes, yes, but who is it!?”

The words that came out were hoarse and defiant, “M-Mega…tron! Megatron!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happens! I'm sorry if I killed off a character you liked or was hoping would survive so early. This fic is about how human heroes defy the odds and stop Megatron from killing but in order to do that, you have to kill people. I know I said I'll explain Lennox's family, and I will, but I had to kill somebody off and there are a lot of characters which are needed for the story to progress. If I kill Jack, nobody's going to know nothing and everybody would be screwed which that isn't how I want it to go.
> 
> I'm not saying Jack doesn't die, however. You won't know who else dies until you actually read. Keep that in mind.


	4. Confrontation

“Jack! Jack, open up!” 

The door opened with Max on the other end. He smiled at his guest, “Will, glad to see you. Come in, come in!”

Lennox scrambled through, a tear-stained daughter following close behind. If they noticed his reaction, they would know Max’s smile disappeared instantly. “Jack! Jack!”

“What!? Can’t an old man get several minutes of sleep in peace without something happening!?” Jack yelled as he took his rightful place on the couch, putting his cane beside him on the armrest. He prominently frowned at his friend before scowling, “What is it? Tell me before I die, please!”

“M-Megatron! He’s back! Megatron!”

Jack stared at him blankly. “It can’t be.”

“I know it was him who murdered my Reanna! The only claws big enough to match those bloody handprints in my backyard is his! There was even a line where blood didn’t touch, a scar. You remember as well as I what happened to his right hand; what we did one of the last times we saw him before the Exodus.”

Max frowned, “What the hell are you two crazy coots saying? A fantasy robot from your past has decided to come back and kill humans? I think it’s time for you two to be going to a retirement home or better yet, an insane asylum.”

Another knock at the door sounded. Max gave them one last look before leaving to get the other guest. He passed Kaylana on the way out of the room. 

“What are you talking about, Grandpa?”

“Hey, Dad, Eddie Whitmann and his girlfriend are here. They say they’ve seen something that may interest you.”

Jack sighed, “Bring them in.” He watched as Eddie entered the room with his fiancée, both looked distraught. 

“Jack, we encountered something we believe you may know something about.”

“I know who it is. Will Lennox just lost his granddaughter to him,” the old man stressed. “You want answers, I will give you what I know and we’ll figure something out from there.”

All the people in the room took a seat; some merely leaned against the armrests of the couches and chairs. Jack shifted uneasily and cleared his throat. It had been quite some years since he had ever truly talked about any specific Transformers really. The memories of the Autobots, Decepticons, and the various others that began to flood his mind almost made him cry. He could feel his eyes water painfully.

“The three of us, Miko, Raf, and I, were a part of a special military co-op team that hunted any remaining Decepticons. You see before that, we were mere teenagers who happened to come across cybernetic aliens by accident. After meeting Agent William Fowler, their liaison to Earth, our careers were coursed to helping our new family, the Autobots. Many times we helped them thwart Megatron and his cronies’ plans. Many times we did the impossible, thinking we were immortal, unstoppable though scared. But who wouldn’t be?

“We irritated Megatron greatly, one failure after another did he suffer. 

“Years of being a part of the war had some toll on us, not gonna lie there. But what really changed us was what happened with Megatron himself. The other Decepticons, a majority of them at least, abandoned his cause after realizing Cybertron would never recover and their only hope was to befriend the human race, and they did. Megatron didn’t take that too well, not one bit. He began killing his own troops and any humans nearby. Then, that cursed day came and even Soundwave was so horrified at what happened, he left his master but he didn’t change sides.

“Megatron snapped! He just began killing nonstop. If he couldn’t reach you with his claws, he’d snap his jaws at you. He ate over seventeen people that day and fifty more were either crushed or ripped to pieces, and that’s not including his own soldiers. It was a bloodbath. Optimus forged me a sword with Solus Prime’s hammer, one that could cease Megatron once and for all. So blade in hand, I battled that monster, leaving several new scars upon his body, one deep in the palm of his servo when he tried to grab my mother, June Darby. When he tried to bite me, I shoved the blade through the roof of his mouth. Sadly, it didn’t kill him as I had hoped, for when I removed it to take another swipe at him, he knocked me back into a military jeep, and I began to lose consciousness. 

“Before he could kill me, Lennox, Epps, and their teams distracted Megatron by using high-heated Sabot rounds. Thankfully, they drove him away, but ever since, he killed anything that moved, swearing to have his revenge on us. What I never got was why he didn’t go after any Autobots when he had many chances to do so after that. He only targeted humans. Then the Transformers disappeared, and they took all their technology with them. We searched for years, hoping to find a clue of why they simply left us without even saying good-bye. Nothing came up and eventually, we stopped looking.”

Lennox sulked as a long pause filled the room. He turned to the others sadly, “I lost my best friend that day, and my father to Megatron. For eighty-five years, I had to live knowing what became of my father and friend, knowing Megatron could be still alive. I have lost too much already to him and now my wife and granddaughter; I don’t know how long I can handle the pain anymore. Whether you choose to believe this or not is you choice, but at least you have a notion of what you’re dealing with now.”

“Wait, what happened to the sword?” Max curiously asked.

Jack hesitated but replied, “It was lost some time later after the massacre. It may have been taken by Optimus when he left. I honestly don’t know.”

Kaylana suddenly sprang up with a smirk, “If you fought him before with technology less advanced than what’s here now, we can fight him again! We can stop him from harming anybody else and hurting any other Cybertronians that may be out there!”

Jack and Max looked at each other before turning to Kaylana again. Max snarled, “No, we will do no such thing! Risking our lives to kill something that has had more time to plan ahead then any of us has lived and expecting this to be easy is foolish! Whatever we’re dealing with isn’t stupid, Kaylie, it probably knows what weapons we have and is prepared to deal with them.”

“Either we find a way to destroy him or he kills us off and continues to hunt humans until somebody decides to do something! We could save our race once again and when the Transformers do return, they won’t have to deal with him anymore. They can thrive finally. No war, no battles, no evil leader. If there is a chance they are out there, we can save them and give them a reason to come home,” Kaylana said.

Max didn’t respond. Though he never believed in any of this nonsense before, she was right. Whatever was out there, whether it was this evil warlord or not, was a threat to all, and only they knew about it. Their grandparents and great grandparents were the heroes of their time, covered up by the government and allies to something not from Earth. Why not continue the legacy?

He looked to his father once more before gazing around the room at everyone present, noticing how each face, each expression, was different but meant the same thing. They believed. They want to help kill the monster among humanity. “Alright,” he sighed, “If this means putting the world before family, I shall disagree greatly but I’ll still do it. Kaylie, don’t make me regret this.”

Kaylana beamed, “Let’s do this.”  
\--------------------------------------------------------

Miko and Sari sat at the balcony table next to the pool with their grandchildren playing in the water. The black-haired woman smiled brightly at her Connor as the boy tackled Carrie. Jake, Isaac, and Isabela were deep in their own conversation.

Isaac and Isabela were twins but only Isabela had a child, though by accident. Isaac had a wife but lost her to brain cancer. Both of them were the successors to Detroit’s Sumdac Systems and Research, the main technological output that was based on Sari’s father’s work. Though Sari had a different last name because of her marriage, she still ran the company despite also being retired. 

“Sari, have you heard about the deaths that have been occurring and the suspicion of aliens?”

Sari raised a brow, “Yes, but you know as well as I that I don’t care about such things unless it’s the return of the Cybertronians.”

“Well the meteorite ordeal seems similar to the way a Transformer would touch down to Earth, remember? And how it disappeared despite being so massive? Call me crazy, but I think it was one and it’s a Decepticon,” Miko uttered excitedly. 

Sari almost choked on her coffee hearing the words fly out of her friend’s mouth. “It can’t be though. If it is then why a Decepticon? Didn’t they change sides once they realized something was wrong with their leader? We were there; we should know!”

“By how the murders were done and the all of them not happening until after that meteorite showed up, I say it’s not a coincidence. Plus there’s only one mech known to have done something like this before, remember? I think it’s Megatron.”

The faded red-haired woman scoffed, “It’s impossible! Megatron left with the rest of them therefore if he returned, then the others should have come back by now! Besides, why would he appear eighty-five years later? Obviously, something’s wrong with your theory!”

“I’m serious though! It has to be him! No other Transformer has killed more humans than he has and the ones that hunted our species besides him stopped when Optimus made a pact with Tigressa and the Predacons and even the Quintessons when they returned. He’s the only logical explanation. Face it!”

“I’m trying not to acknowledge it despite I can actually see your reasoning,” Sari growled. “It pains me knowing that the one Transformer who did return is killing everybody.”

Sari suddenly froze, staring at the children in the pool. Connor and Carrie didn’t notice this but Isaac and the rest did. 

“Mom? Is everything okay?”

“Shhh,” she hissed before moving her head towards the remote section of the city nearby. “Don’t you hear that?”

Isabela frowned, “Hear what?”

“That growling. It’s coming from beyond the tree line, not far away from us.” Panic instantly filled her, “Get the children inside now! Get them out!”

“Mom, you’re over reacting! There’s nothing here!” Isaac said as Isabela and Jake took the kids to the house. 

One of the children let out an ear-splitting scream. They all turned to the source before quickly eyeing what Carrie was scared of. All of them froze in horror.

In the open breathing heavily was Megatron. His mouth twisted to a toothy frown. Faded red blood was visible on his face, chest, and claws, blending horribly with his grey scheme. His optics, one cracked beyond repair, eyed them furiously, slowly moving his head from side to side without breaking eye contact. He growled predatorily at them before suddenly charging.

Pedes kicked up dirt and grass as Megatron moved in for the kill. He made no acknowledgement of Jake despite the man pushed his mother and her friend inside. He wanted Miko and Sari, not the boy but if he kept being bothersome, there will be a problem.

Jake snarled at the monstrous machine before dodging a claw that slipped into the pool after coming in contact with the outer unstable edge that was not meant to take the amount of pressure the robot had produced. When Megatron’s head was close enough to the ground, Jake picked up a metal baseball bat he normally practiced with and swung it straight into the mech’s jaw. He swung again, barely hitting the brink of the robot’s nose before rebounding to hit its jaw once more.

But, his luck ran out. The human this time aimed for the side of its helm but realized too late Megatron had begun to turn right before that moment and the man found his forearm caught in the mouth of the beast.  He cried out, dropping the bat in the process, when the mech twisted his head to the right, pulling the arm and the boy along with it. On cue, a snap and a gruesome rip rang out with a gargled scream.

Jake lunged back instantly, holding the gaping hole in pain where his lower arm once was attached. He watched as the robot clamped down on the torn limb before swallowing the damn thing whole. Fresh blood dripped from the teeth of the monster like crimson paint that looked sprayed onto bare steel pieces lined within the entrance to a pitch black chasm.

It was gone; his limb was already down the monster’s throat and now dissolving in whatever was inside the demonic mech. He backed away immediately before the robot could attack but when it tried to, it shattered several windows, leaving a part of the outer wall with a giant hand print and holes, presumably where the claws hit. 

Megatron reared back in frustration, giving a short menacing roar before raising his servo to try and squish the insect that had foolishly decided to retaliate. Suddenly, he howled in pain as his fist came down, missing the human by at least a couple dozen inches. His helm whipped around to see Isabela, removing her hand from the embedded weapon that she had stuck between his shin armor and into sensitive wiring. 

When he snarled at her, she hissed back by pulling the weapon from its temporary hold. She smirked as he winced. But he quickly turned to her surprise so he could monitor her every move if she dared to strike. With one swift move faster than the blink of an eye, his pede was on top of her with a sickening crunching sound. Her blood exploded out and splattered everywhere like a confetti party popper. 

Despite her quick death, the weapon she held onto had shot through his pede and instantly, he cried out before sitting down on the grass and attempting to remove the pesky tool. When he couldn’t pluck it out but rather made it break into two pieces, one still stuck in the armor, he groaned in pain. Slowly, he stood up, limping to keep balance. After taking two steps, he shook his head in defiance before transforming into the Cybertronian jet he was so renowned for.

Jake also stood in pain, panting as his heart raced but his vision began to blackout. He moved forward a couple feet towards the puddle that was Isabela but collapsed from the blood loss from his severed limb. His eyes failed his command to stay awake. They fell steadily before colliding with one another.

Silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this seemed a bit rushed but I think it's time for the cast to really start facing Megatron. Also, getting something stuck in your foot is a lot painful than you think (trust me, I found that out the hard way), so I figured if he got the weapon lodged in his foot, realistically he would be in agony and leave to tend to his injuries.


	5. Ghosts of the Past

_Beep Beep Beep_

“Jake?”

“Jake!” 

“He’s lost too much blood!”

_**“Jake.”** _

“Come on, stay with me!”

_**“Jake. Wake up, Jake. We’re not through yet. We still have work to do.”** _

“Jake! Please be okay!”  
\----------------------------------------------

The call of Isabela’s death came quick and fast. The fact that Jake had also lost his entire arm to the same thing that killed her made headlines not just in Detroit, but throughout Michigan. 

**Mysterious Death And Dismemberment Of Two People Cause City-wide Panic!**

**Could New Incidents Be Related To James And Frank Murder?**

**Is Crazy Old Jack Not A Liar After All?**

**Monsters Among Men?**

The headlines were endless. But despite everything, they all believed they were dealing with other humans. 

“Will?” 

The old man flinched at his name before setting down the newspaper. He scoffed, “Have those damn reporters gone yet? Are they still waiting to twist the words I say into that of a madman’s?”

Annabelle shook her head, “No, they’ve retired for today. You should too.”

“Anna, this isn’t a matter that can be set aside. It has to be dealt with now! He’ll keep coming back otherwise.” Lennox grabbed her arm and placed a firm hand on her own, “Losing your mother and your child, the one who had grown to be a wonderful young lady with a future, was hard enough for someone my age. I can’t bear to see you or Jason lost to that monster either. You’re all I have left! If I lose you, I’ll be lost myself forever.”

She smiled sweetly at him, kneeling to be eye level with him. “I promise I won’t leave you. I’ll kill that sick son of a bitch machine before I’ll make you suffer even more.”

“Tough as rocks just like your mother,” he chuckled.

“And don’t you forget that, Dad.”  
\------------------------------------------------------

The Darbys, the Petersons, and many others had contacted one another in terror as they now all had a new common enemy, to some an old one. Police surrounded their homes and escorted them everywhere for a few weeks, making sure whoever was responsible couldn’t attack them. It worked but the families still knew they were in serious danger nonetheless.

Despite the protection, the police still refused to believe the tall tales of a metal alien seeking revenge for an old grudge. Several people tried to start a riot saying the families were plotting their own members’ deaths and should be put in insane asylums. Conspiracists still ranted that they were innocent and the alien did this.

However, nobody put the pasts of old war veterans like Lennox and Darby together with the information gathered. Nothing made sense either way and why the government refused to let information like that be known to the public was simply unfair. It was like they wanted the families to suffer or they simply didn’t want the knowledge of the creatures outside of Earth’s atmosphere to be revealed to keep control of the situation as it is. It was understandable that certain knowledge could lead to much more brutal criticism but the public still had the right to know.

Now the only thing truly bothering the families was that Megatron was still close to the city, waiting patiently for the right opportunity to attack. Forget the riots and the government, surviving the actual evil Cybertronian was the top priority on the list. Everything else could just go to hell for all they cared.

Kaylana had no patience though. She was determined to go and confront the mechanism face to face, out of all the idiotic ideas in the world. But after showing a military friend of the family the pictures of the foot and hand prints, not to mention the blood of the monster, that were captured directly after the incidents, she tried to get him to persuade the military to come and help. He denied, not wanting to get discharged for sending them after a fairytale creature of the past.

“The military won’t help us, the police are only here to see to it we don’t get murdered without witnesses, and the city’s claiming we’re fucked up. What the hell do we do?” She impatiently said.

Jack could only lean back on his recliner with a baffled expression. “Sit here and wait for him to return, I guess. We’re competing with a being capable of surviving things we could only hope to last ten minutes in. Clever bastard, isn’t he though?”

She shot him a confused look, “How so?”

He only smirked. “Back then, he used to use the high rock-covered mountains, the snowy tundras, and even metal backgrounds like the Nemesis interior to camouflage himself to get a better advantage. We picked up on it after five times he ambushed us. Lots of humans were killed but damn, that sneaky son of a bitch had a plan for each and every move we made in those types of areas. I have to give him credit for very original stealth attacks.

“I remember we used a type of voice recorder that could trick him into believing Optimus or another Autobot was there. He would eventually chase after the voice’s origin, desperately wanting to end the mockery we used to set upon him. All you had to do is speak in it and it would change your voice to the Autobot of your choice. Made an excellent prank, I’ll tell you that. To be honest, I believe Megatron has forgotten about it and yes, I still have it. It’s in the storage pod, 73C, by the docks. I hid it there as I did many other things to prevent the government from taking the only memoirs I had of the Transformers. I’ll show you the items that belonged to some of them if you like.

“Only now do I begin to realize that before he went off the deep end, he was actually using the said advantage as a game, a sport even more so. Like a complicated cat and mouse game. How we won this ‘game’ of his is by luring him out of the shadows to where we could strike. Play helpless with no Autobots in sight and he’ll come straight to you, like a dog comes to its master. After you have him out in the open, shoot him or use whatever obstacles among the area you can find as a weapon like the large cement tubes found in a construction site; those things piled on him quick and easy and we almost captured him, had it not been for Soundwave and those atrocious pets of his.”

Kaylana’s eyes widened, “That’s it!”

“That’s what?”

“We can do what you did before! We can get him out in the open, hopefully for a few people to see and we can trap him! If we fail to secure him, at least the military will have its proof of a monster in Detroit and will aid us! We’ll have the advantage!” She squealed happily.

Jack frowned at this, however. “Kaylie, it’s easier said than done. Megatron is the master of deception; he’s very hard to fool despite his brain is probably scrambled since I last saw him. One wrong move and it’s over. You do realize that, don’t you? You miscalculate the smallest detail in a dodge or an attack and you’re dead! It’s as simple as that.”

She shook her head, “I’m not doing this alone. I talked to Isaac yesterday about Megatron and he said he’s willing to help me stand against that monster to avenge Isabela if I truly desired to do so. My dad and Eddie have said the same thing, though knowing Father’s first reactions. We are going to make things right, I promise you.”

“Don’t…don’t do this to me. If anything happens to you, I’ll die as soon as word hits our home. You need to live, not perish by a mad tyrant’s claws,” the old man groaned, tears slowly beginning to fall from his face.

Kaylana kissed his forehead, “If we don’t do it, everyone will die. ‘No sacrifice, no victory’. The old Witwicky motto, remember? I want a safe future for Maia and Connor and all the children of their generation. I may not live to see my grandchildren but at least I’ll know they live on with no monster to haunt the generations to come.”

Jack swallowed hard, a lump forming in his throat. “Be careful. Maia needs you; your mother needs you. Please come back.”

“I hate making promises that I fear I cannot keep.”

Slowly, Jack brought her in close for a hug. However, he began to feel a sharp pain in his chest. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t bring himself to tell her about it. The only thing he said was, “Let’s get that damn voice recorder. It’ll serve you well on your mission.”  
\-----------------------------------------------------

Jake’s vision suddenly turned white as he opened his eyes. Other colors slowly replaced some sections of his vision, forming moving figures and still objects above. As his sight recovered, so did his hearing. Faint voices began becoming louder and items being moved and set down were instantly audible. 

“Jake?”

The blurry face of a grey-streaked redhead finally cleared out and there stood Sari, smiling down at her friend’s son. His mother was on the other side of his vision, checking the monitors he was hooked up to.

“Mom, are you okay? Are Connor and Carrie…and Isaac okay?” He strained out, wincing when his voice cracked.

Miko smiled, “They’re fine. The Cybertronian left. His foot was injured and deemed unsuitable to walk on.”

“So…the stories are true? That was a Cyber…tronian?”

“Yes, that was Megatron,” she sighed. “He was the Decepticon leader. Of course, there aren’t any Decepticons to rule now.”

“I heard a voice.”

Sari raised a brow, “A voice? You mean one of ours?”

Jake slowly shook his head, “It was a man and a woman’s combined and it sounded metallic, almost foreign.”

Both women looked at each other before Miko cupped her chin. “There were a few Cybertronians back in my day with a voice like that. Was the female’s more pronounced?”

He nodded.

“That narrows it down to two bots, one of them being Solus Prime and the other being Kalypso’s but the latter presumably died during the final battle between Tigressa and Acheron. Solus’ status was unknown since she, along with the other Thirteen, disappeared long before Optimus or Megatron first came to Earth. She used Vector Sigma as a way to contact us but we never could determine whether she was still alive or not.”

Sari cut her off, “What did she say?”

Jake shrugged, “I think she said ‘we’ had more things to do. I think she meant all of us are meant to do one last thing before we die. It was almost like she wants us to kill Megatron before we leave Earth for Heaven. I don’t know, to be honest.”

“Alright, go to sleep. We’ll take it from here,” Miko said as she fluffed up his pillow. “We’ve already contacted the Darbys and they say they have a plan to get rid of Megatron. In the meantime, you stay here where your safe and I’ve told the doctor to keep you here until we figure out how to deal with the problem of a killer robot.”

She nodded to the nurse who then pumped a tranquilizer inside the IV before heading out to consult the doctor. Jake smiled at her before dozing off once more.  
\----------------------------------------------------------

“Is this it, Grandad?” Kaylana grimaced as she picked up an old, rusted device that had buttons similar to that of a TV remote.

“Nope, it’s a red steel circular pendant with several blue buttons lining the sides with a grey middle. We dyed it to represent Optimus’ color scheme because we used it mainly to imitate his voice only. We used the others just in case Megatron became suspicious.”

Jack paused at an object Kaylana swore was a tooth. When he pointed at it with a smile, she halted her search for the voice-changer. “Shot a rocket into her mouth and this popped loose. Hit the front end of our vehicle. It almost damn near blew us up had it actually hit the engine instead of the grill and part of the lines of the coolant and oil. 

“And this trident-looking staff was Knockout’s. Its top half broke off when Bumblebee slammed it into the wall by accident. Over here is Optimus’ key to Vector Sigma. He lied to me about it being the key to the ground bridge when Unicron woke up in Earth’s core. Caused a great deal of trouble that did.”

Kaylana squinted at something buried behind the key before carefully picking the key up and placing it elsewhere. She smiled as she saw what it was. The voice simulator! When she held it in her hands, she spotted the various Cybertronian engravings on the buttons and the middle. A small black screen, probably to show a voice’s wavelengths altered, sat covered in dust in the center of the mechanism.

Curiously, she pressed the button on top and spoke into the opposite side that didn’t contain the screen. “Jack,” a dark voice emitted in sync with her normal one. Laughing, she spoke again, “I assume this is _my_ voice?”

Jack clapped his hands together with a smile, “You sound exactly like him! Like Optimus! Your normal voice is barely audible. The good thing about this device is that you can speak at a normal tone or level and you can change the volume so from far away, you’ll still be heard despite you’re not shouting. Amazing, isn’t it?”

Kaylana nodded, “I want to keep this so bad. Perhaps use it on our family before we use it on Megatron?”

“Keep it! It’s yours and Maia’s. When she becomes old enough, she can do whatever she pleases with these things. I’m almost dead anyway so this is probably the last time I see this pile of memories.”

She put the device back to her mouth, “Autobots, let’s roll out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where they began to confront Megatron himself and let's just say next chapter's going to get real depressing. Tune in and you'll see why.


	6. Echo

Kaylana had told her baby girl a goodbye she hoped would not be her last words to her daughter. With her father, Max, Eddie, and Isaac, they went to the outskirts of the city but made sure they were on an end where there were plenty of escape routes possible if Megatron became more moody than seen by the survivors of his attacks.

There was an abandoned building that rested in front of them, broken wood, caved in ceiling; it was a start to a place they could set up but that depended on whether it was willing to support four mere humans and act as a stepping stool to the trees’ lower canopy. It took several minutes to get to the roof, producing enough noise to where if Megatron wasn’t already there, he was surely suspicious enough to check it out now. When they heard a bellow a mile (estimate) away from their position, they knew he had heard something.

Quickly, she climbed one tree limb after another before she found a suitable height that she calculated would come close to Megatron’s height if not slightly smaller, like Optimus’ supposed. When she was settled in the area where she could maneuver through the tree line quietly and saw her team ready, she activated the device to amplify the Autobot’s voice. “Megatron!”

She froze to listen for movement. Hearing the metal mech increase his pace alerted them that Optimus definitely got his attention. They waited a couple minutes; the movement of the alien ceased a few times before continuing as if he was unsure.

Finally, Megatron appeared. Blood-tainted armor shining in the sun, Energon oozing from different joints that seemed to be recently injured, like within the last twenty-four hours. But the expression he wore was almost unbelievable; it didn’t seem possible for a warlord such as him to produce. He was concerned, almost scared.

Kaylana smirked wickedly. “Tyrant! Murderer!”

Megatron turned towards her but didn’t look directly at her. She assumed she was well-hidden. When his helm moved to the right of her, she darted from one limb to another, carefully trying to prevent unnecessary noise that would ruin the scheme. She only made one sound at the very beginning of her run but found herself behind the mech with no trouble. He faced away from her in confusion.

She also smiled to see he was perfectly in the middle of the open field, not moving from where he stood. That made it easier.

“We were supposed to leave this world, all of us! But you came back when you weren’t allowed to! Why?” She growled. She was unsure if that was what Optimus actually did but at least it would get him to retort or say something about it in general. He turned once more.

What he responded with, in a harsh, underused voice that didn’t sound like the one described in her grandfather’s stories, surprised her. “You couldn’t have found me...I made sure of that. You and that two-wheeler lost me on Junkion! I saw it!”

Kaylana moved again. She hissed out, “Never doubt me, you pathetic piece of shit!” Optimus definitely wouldn’t have said human curse words but Megatron’s reaction was priceless. He was taken aback, stunned at the choice of words.

“I always find a way, remember? We stayed away from Earth for a reason. Why did you come back? Answer me!”

Megatron’s expression turned dark. “I came back to finish what I started.”

“Coward!” She spat out. “You attack beings less powerful than you for what? A new home? We had our chance and we destroyed it, so we pay for our arrogance, not another species! _WE_ did this, Megatron! _WE_ deserve what we’ve been given, being exiled from both of our homes, rejected by all because that’s what we’ve earned! Nothing!”

She moved once more, not as far as last time. “You were the cause of everything! I suggest you leave while you can or you’ll receive your judgement soon enough! And not by my hand, but by the species you thought you could kill. By the species you doubted for so long! You think you’re a God but among Gods, there are monsters. The question is, how do we sort them out?”

Megatron opened his mouth to speak but shut it quickly. It took a bit before he spoke again, “You’re the one to talk. You brought the war to Earth when you involved the humans. Government issue or not, you entered them in against their will. You’re no better than I.”

Kaylana paused for a second. Megatron was right. Optimus was the one who put their families in danger in the first place, not the Decepticons. The Decepticons only took advantage of the carelessness on Optimus’ part. But the Autobot leader was only trying to do what he thought was the safest thing to do. Humankind was involved with the war in every way as soon as it hit Earth; it’s just the “robots in disguise” thing that made it a national security issue.

She scoffed, “At least I don’t kill humans.”

She couldn’t tell if he was frowning or just plain irritated. “Nice comeback. I thought you were wittier than that, dear brother? Why are you hiding? Afraid to fight me? Afraid you won’t save the remaining humans of the families of your allies?”

“No, I just prefer the distortion of the trees to help me block out your ugly mugshot.”

Megatron’s red optics brightened in rage, the broken one dimming every now and then. 

“By the way, I left you an old gift inside the house. I believe it once belonged to you during your Gladiator days,” Kaylana smiled.

Confused, he turned on heel before lifting the roof of the house. His eyes narrowed when suddenly several blasts hit him in the face, causing him to drop the roof in agony. He desperately tried to clear his optics but it seemed to have blinded him temporarily. 

Kaylana jumped down the remaining limbs until she landed feet-first on the ground, running directly after to meet her father, Eddie, and Isaac, whom of which were proudly carrying their weapons. They ran down the hill, spotting a grey-rafted construction site nearby. ‘Let’s see how determined Megatron is to get us,’ she thought.

Thankfully, the roads were clear so Megatron could follow if he desired to do so without being seen but they would need to trick him to walk out in the open fully to finally expose him to the world. They needed to distract him a little more before his big reveal.

The rumble of an angry roar made Isaac turn to job backwards to see if the tyrant was following them. Sure enough, the grey scarred mech was sprinting towards them, but he kept looking back towards the forest as if he was watching to see if Optimus was going to sneak up on him. He was buying the gig still so they could use the Optimus voice again. Things were still in their favor, but for how long?

Isaac turned back around before running past Max and instantly climbing over a concrete barrier with Kaylana. Max, however, paused at the top of the concrete noting how Megatron looked like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park from a distance. That was a sight he didn’t want to think about.

Kaylana used the advantage of the barrier’s shadow to move to a ladder and scale the construction rafters before hiding behind a tarp-covered stack of pipes. She watched Megatron climb over after Isaac, snapping his teeth at the man but lost him when he squeezed through a crevice between two walls. She sprang into action as the mech prepared to break down the only thing that stood between him and the human.

“I think I know what your problem is Megatron! You’re jealous,” she hissed. 

Megatron stopped himself from bringing his servo down and narrowed his optics. “Jealous? What is there to be jealous of?”

“The attention. The fact that mere humans and ‘pathetic’ Autobots were more of a family than you were. They made me laugh, they were always there, and they loved me...but so did you.”

The silver tyrant’s face grew hollow with sadness before he growled angrily. “You’re wrong!”

Kaylana knew denial when she saw it, now it was time to take all the information from Grandad’s stories and use it against him, to make him suffer like all his victims before the humans. “Am I?” Her new voice echoed throughout the site. “When Orion Pax went against you in the Council Chamber before the members themselves, that hurt you but it didn’t break your love for me, even when I became Optimus Prime. You considered me a brother, someone you could love and in return, you’d be loved too. When I left, you had an empty hole in your spark. 

“When I showed my Autobots how much I cared for them, it was similar to the praise I gave you and you wanted it again. They adored me just as you did, they saw me as part of their family while yours was rotted to the core with no one who understood you except drones who were expendable. 

“All you wanted was to hear me speak your name, not with pain or anger or any other emotion except for affection. You wanted me to come back but I had moved on and who was to blame? The Autobots? That’s the only blame you would accept. You saw no error in what you did and you forgave me for speaking my opinion but I was not there to hear your apology. Then the humans came into our lives.

“I began relating to them as I did with Bumblebee and Arcee and the other Autobots. They expanded my family even more but you still weren’t a part of it. They had everything, you had nothing! Even me. 

“After all this time, it wasn’t I that needed you. You needed me.”

Kaylana laughed softly, as she predicted his laugh would be like, through the device, observing Megatron’s face twist to from sad to mad to confused. He shook his head before placing both servos on the side of his helm. “Shut up!” He cried. “Shut up!”

“Why? Isn’t this what you wanted? To hear me laugh again? I’m not laughing at you; I’m laughing the irony of it all.”

“No! Shut up!”

“I see why you attack humans now. You can’t face the fact that you are just second best! For once, you’ve lost the fight and you don’t even know it!”

Kaylana just stared in amazement as Megatron roared with a mixture of emotions. Never before has Megatron been broken in such a way, or at least not that anybody knew at the time of her family’s past with him. She swore she could almost see the Cybertronian equivalent to tears forming beneath both his normal and his cracked optics.

Suddenly, the warlord pointed his dented cannon in her direction. It warmed up quickly and she only had a few seconds to move before a ray of purple shot at her. She rolled off the edge, hitting the ground on her side. Wincing, she bolted towards her father, wondering if Megatron had figured it out. 

Luckily, he didn’t see her since he didn’t make an attempt to chase after her. His roar was stressed, however, meaning he was mentally hurt and blinded with fury. It was now time to expose the monster to man.

She put the device away, assuming Megatron still thought Optimus was hiding and in a way, he was. She stood out in the open, facing the tyrant despite his back was the side she could see. Pulling her fingers to her lips, she whistled. Keeping her stance as Megatron turned towards her, a melancholy, furious expression dominating his features.

“Little bug, you helped him come here? To torment me!?” He growled.

“No,” she smirked. “I just consider it revenge. You kill my friends and family, Optimus makes you miserable until you can’t stand living anymore.”

“Why you little…!”

“Funny how jealousy can drive you insane. He loved you yet you betrayed him? You kill what he loved, us, his friends, you yourself. You greedy bastard!”

Megatron bellowed angrily, “Stupid insect! You cannot fathom the truth! I didn’t betray him!”

“No, but you did keep him in the dark even during your second chance after he lost his memories in Unicron at the core of this planet! It’s too obvious, ‘Lord’ Megatron! If you couldn’t have him then no one could! You’ve lied to yourself for so long, the truth hurts more than it should! And how to take out the stress and emotions than killing the species Orion and Optimus admired? Humans! You dug your own prison with your greed and jealousy and now you can’t stand the pain any longer! So if that’s the case then by all means, come at me, you low-life son of a bitch!”

He roared like a dinosaur ready to kill. Stomping and clawing at the dirt with his pede in anger before he charged once again. This time, her father and Isaac stayed hidden and she led the raging mech through the maze of construction. She flinched every time he crashed through a support or two sprinting after her. The animal that was Megatron seemed determined to kill, just as he did before.

Parts of supports flew parallel to her, barely missing her head and body by mere inches. When she spotted a solid metal fence and heard the faint voices of humans on the other side, she smiled before climbing over. She knew it would take too long to go fully over so when she reached the top, she paused to look straight into the rampaging Cybertronian’s optics and jumped as soon as he was a step away from the wall.

The barrier shattered and Kaylana was flung into the streets, narrowly throwing her into the path of an oncoming car. Nothing hit her but her vision and hearing had a terrible ringing sound and spots floating aimlessly across. She could, however, hear the many screams of terror that followed after. 

When everything returned, she saw several cameras, video recorders, and phones out among the public all pointing at a tangled Megatron who had been trapped by telephone wires. He bellowed in frustration before finally breaking loose and climbing over the rubble of the construction site. When he was high enough, he transformed into a vehicle obviously not from Earth. In seconds, he was gone.

It was alarming how much of Jack’s tales were true and the evidence of such was literally a few feet away in its deadly glory. Guess it was true what they say. Become attached to a story and try to find the truth, the results will devastate or disappoint you. The former answer coming in more like “it will kill you”. And there was the proof, now cowardly flying away because he was too scared to face the truth. At least human stupidity had given dumbasses like her courage which in horror movies wouldn’t be the best idea unless you got lucky.

Lucky didn’t describe this though.

Several people ran to her side, including her father and Isaac, the latter holding a shovel for some random reason she didn’t want to hear at the moment. “Kaylie, sweetheart, are you okay?”

Max offered his hand and gladly pulled her up when she took it, hugging her immediately. “Don’t ever do that to me again! Sandy would’ve killed me if you truly had died and I’d probably die from a heart attack!”

“I’m fine, Dad, really!” She turned in the direction where jet smoke streaked over the city of Detroit. “Do you think he’ll go after me now?”

Her father pondered but couldn’t deny it since she mocked the tyrant prior. “We’ll just have to wait and see but I think the military’s going to help us now so he won’t be as foolish to strike instantly. Then again, you called him so he’s just going to wait until you slip up which I forbid you from doing!”

“Of course, Maximilian Darby, I am honored to see to it your request is done,” Optimus’ voice laughed when she held the vocal changer next to her mouth. Kaylana smiled and hugged him again, holding the device within her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you it was dark! Nobody dies in a chapter (finally) but that doesn't mean it's going to end. I know it seemed out of character for both of them but Megatron probably hasn't interacted with anyone in so long and has been killing so much that it has affected him strangely while Kaylana doesn't know Optimus so she's attempting to try and be like him as much as possible.


	7. Gluttony

Max swirled the contents within his wineglass gloomily. He wasn’t depressed, just bored. 

After last week’s fiasco with Megatron, the military had come due to popular demand and at first, it was marvelous how they brought tanks, jets, and even placed a plane carrier near Dinobot Island (formerly North Sister Island), the abandoned home of the once proud dinosaur Cybertronians. They waited for a few days for the brute but he never appeared. It was highly doubtful he moved to a different city, so...where was he?

The military didn’t move despite this. The government had no choice but to reveal who that Cybertronian was and that Cybertronians in general did exist since they received nonstop calls from all over Detroit. Then Max had a tsunami of a wave of calls hit the Darby residence about the story behind his father’s past with the monster. It was exciting before, but now it was just a migraine.

Kaylana was also suffering. FBI and CIA were constantly questioning her and apparently, a new version of Sector Seven and M.E.C.H. were extremely interested in Megatron. Those bastards were worse than the government (which was pretty bad more so than it was in the 2030’s with the Vortal Crisis of 36’).

Max pondered on what to do. He couldn’t leave the damn house with the military watching his every move and making sure Megatron didn’t go near him. He couldn’t spend time with his family because they were in questioning nonstop. 

His wineglass slipped from his fingers and smashed in pieces on the dark oak floor with a darker spot now under shards. He sighed groggily.  
\---------------------------------------------------

Jake leaned against his mother’s shoulder, accepting her comfort in this Hell of a hospital. He felt useless. He knew his mother was trying to make him feel better, what mother wouldn’t? But it was a lost cause.

“Baby, you’ll be whole again, I promise.”

Jake frowned, “It’s not nice to lie to people Mom, especially your own son.”

Miko scowled, “And who said I was telling a lie?”

“Unless they can gut that metal son of a bitch, retrieve my arm and repair it, I’ll never feel whole again. No arm can replace my former, no matter how accurate they can replicate it.”

Miko sighed before stroking his hair, “You just gotta deal with what they can offer. If I could, I would hunt him down for you and use his armored hide to make you the greatest arm this world has ever seen. Maybe turn him into a suit too.”

He couldn’t help but smirk at the comment. “I know you would.”  
\-----------------------------------------------

Lightning attempted to strike the ground, not caring what it hit in the process but it was attracted to the metal being below. It snarled when it missed and roared angrily when it failed to breach the clouds it was contained in.

Megatron simply smirked.

The heat of the Marines and Army looking for his aft should have died down a bit, perhaps enough to visit dear Sari Sumdac, the daughter of that wretched scientist. Good riddance! One Sumdac scum was bad enough during his lifetime; his daughter will definitely not be needed anymore too.

His toothy smile widened when he located the femme’s home. Time to greet an old friend.  
\------------------------------------

Sari took a sip of her tea, listening to the news reporter rambling on about sightings of Megatron and supposed other Transformers. She could see the tiny Photoshop errors with the pictures of “Starscream” and “Phantasmos” but the ones about Megatron seemed solid…then again, she doubted his armor was that clean.

“Sari.”

The whisper made her jolt upright, spilling her tea on the ground and the cup lying in pieces. 

“Sari.”

A rigid, demonic echo of a whisper carried throughout her house and the origin appeared to be from an open window that was filled with the darkness of night. It called again. This time it was harsher but it gave away who the caller was. 

“What do you want, buckethead? You don’t scare me anymore,” she growled as she laid her head back to rest on top of the couch. She didn’t need to look at him to remember his face. If he wanted to peer into her soul, he’d have to break the damn roof off, which thankfully would give away his position to the army that just stood less than three blocks from her home. 

She knew never to underestimate him; he would eventually find a way near her even with protection down the road. No sirens, no screaming neighbors. Nobody knew he was there…yet.

“Am I not allowed to see my former captor’s daughter? Such a shame about his death by the way. My condolences, dear,” he hissed. 

Sari noted how a low growl emitted from his throat. But that wasn’t the true observance of the matter. It was how it sounded like it was coming from behind her that caught most of her attention. Nothing was behind the couch because the furniture was against a wall but the wall was the only barrier to the kitchen where his voice seemed to reside.

“Spare me your pathetic sympathies for someone who cares,” she spat. Another growl, louder in anger, once again rumbled through the wall. 

She sat perfectly still as she turned off the TV. As she focused on the black TV, the replication made her heart beat faster as in the corner of the TV held the mirrored version of her kitchen and another object blocking its white coloring. Her eyes didn’t widen when the reflection of the archway to the kitchen was filled with a head and two blood-red optics. Metal lips curled upward to reveal several sharp fangs smiling at her. 

He was in the damn kitchen! But how? There was no noise whatsoever other than the TV but even that wasn’t loud enough to drown out the side of her house being pushed inward.

Sari refused to turn her head to greet a monster. Instead, she simply stared into the reflection’s cruel eyes. 

“Little girl, how much you’ve grown, though the years seemed to be less kind to you than to I. You still bask in the hope your dear Wrecker and scout will come home. Laughable. May I tell you a secret?”

Her breathing hesitated when the reflection showed Megatron right beside her. She winced as her cheek grazed metal. She couldn’t help a whimper as her head was tilted to the side, the sound of nostrils of a large beast identifying her presence and scent.

She heard his smile broadening as saliva dripped from his bared teeth onto her torso and head, thin lips quivering a snarl. In a low undertone, Megatron hoarsely sneered, “They were a marvelous dinner and that medic lapdog served as a great dessert. My former Decepticons and the rest of those remaining Autobot pests simply fell one by one, most a temporary cure for my gluttony while others were just for mere sport. That motorcycle bitch fell and burned in those moody smelting pits. Unfortunately, I do not know whether Optimus is still alive or not. I heard him just recently but I refuse to accept his survival; he had too many wounds bleeding out rapidly.

“And don’t get me started with Kanjis, Velocitron, and Junkion. They fought well but even monsters have to die someday. Some of them even gave me some nasty scars I’ve never received before in the Pits as a gladiator. Still they fell and I rose above victorious.”

No, that couldn’t be true! They were alive! They were…had to be. Tears slipped down the bridge of her nose but she made no noise to alert Megatron she was weak.

“You know, you’ve fought to keep that hope alive and I admit I’m impressed, but you must face reality. They aren’t coming back. Give up before you hurt too many people and ruin their lives with your mistakes. I am the last Cybertronian you will see, this world will see and I still have, to this day, every intension on keeping it like that!” 

Sari grimaced, “You just destroyed your own species? Monster, I thought you wanted to rule them.”

“Once, but now I just want to see everyone die and you’re next!”

“I do not fear you like I did when I was an eight year old child!”

Megatron smirked, “No? Then I hope dear baby Carrie can!”

Sari tried to scream at him but nothing came out. In one quick move, her head was bitten and torn off. As her body slumped to the floor like a ragdoll, he began laughing before it turned more into a sinister roar.

Suddenly, sirens and house lights awoke throughout the neighborhood, causing the mech to snarl at his outburst. He brought his head and upper torso back into the kitchen before instantly jolting forward, smashing his way through the house. Climbing up top Sari’s neighbors’ roof, he ran for the woodland just a few blocks away. Jumping from roof to roof, search lights lit up on his armor and attempted to follow him. Guns were blazing as many bullets as they could push out per second. Foolish humans. 

When a helicopter got too close, Megatron caught and swung it into the streets; a fireball quickly formed after impact. As soon as he got through the tree line, he roared again, hoping the humans would follow him in. It would give him quite the advantage over his prey.

He slowed to a reasonable pace, snarling at a few deer in his path. All that remained of Sari’s family was Carrie. She was no doubt with her friends at the Darby’s home. Speaking of which, he really needed to see that femme again and make her pay for her humiliating plan to make the world aware of his presence. Everything was fine until a week ago. Now, his progress was slowing down much more than he liked and it was becoming a pain.

If that girl could degrade him, he could do the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to change some things and add death to the story because like I said before, there's always going to be death in this story. Now you know what happened to the other Transformers, or is Megatron lying? Some of it is true but some of it can be considered questionable. Can you guess what parts?


	8. Mockingbird

“We have to go back into the wilderness. It’s our only chance.”

“Then what? We can’t just explore it as if it’s our backyard. With Megatron out there, he can kill us off one by one. One person is better than an entire team because that’s what he’s going to expect. He wants us to send all our soldiers and all our military vehicles so he can destroy them, so he can remind us what he once was on this planet back then,” Isaac hissed.

Jason, Annabelle’s brother, tapped his fingers impatiently on the counter top. “Megatron is just a robot. Why don’t we find oil and Energon and place it in a trap to lure him out again. I’m pretty sure he’s extremely low on those two things plus eating humans probably is hurting his system.”

“Does he eat doggies and kitties too?” Maia asked, playing with a makeshift truck model from Jack’s warehouse. 

Kaylana sighed, “Come on, sweetie, you don’t need to hear this.”

“Even with the right bait, what are we going to do with him once we get him? Our weapons don’t do shit against Cybertronian armor except high-heated Sabot rounds and I highly doubt even he’s going to have the patience to sit there for three hours being mauled to death by those shots,” Isaac scolded. “What we need is Cybertronian weapons, something that could pierce his armor without struggle.”

“There is nothing like that here. The only weapons of that magnitude are, of course, on Megatron himself. Obviously, stealing them would be suicide let alone the most ridiculous idea in history because you’ll be blasted with said weapons. Plus, we can’t carry them away. The farthest we’ll take them is about…five feet before Big Bad steps on us.”

“Boys! Boys! Can we discuss this later? I’d really like to, I don’t know, think about my life I’m living right now than what I’ll be in future when confronting that monster.” Kaylana shook her head angrily.

Jason groaned, “We aren’t going to die, if that’s what you’re implying.”

“I’m not implying anything too serious but we are in the Present, not the future, so I’d like to stick here and enjoy it while I can so later on, I don’t have to regret spending my time worrying and preparing against a genocidal Cybertronian than not my baby girl and the rest of my family. I’ll take my family over survival any day, thank you.”

The door slammed open with a blood-stained Max breathing heavily. “Jocelyn’s dead.”  
\--------------------------------------------

Kaylana, Jason, Isaac, and Max all raced to the wreckage of Jocelyn’s car. Its roof was torn off and the sides caved in as if something or _someone_ crushed it into a paper ball. Bloody handprints suggested there was a major struggle between her and whatever did this, but the answer was obvious. 

Jocelyn, Eddie Whitmann’s fiancée, was going to have a baby someday. A new life and a new future for a new somebody. Technically there were two murders today, as if Megatron hadn’t sunk so low already. That wasn’t the most heart wrenching scene though.

Eddie sat there, dead body in his arms, puddle of water under his lap. The body’s belly had been ripped apart to add salt on Eddie’s broken heart. That beast took everything he cherished from him. 

The scene made Kaylana clench her fist upon her own stomach. How could _he_ have no regard for a life of a child; a small, innocent life that had done no one harm? The mere thought of Maia being taken by Megatron made her sick. He wasn’t going to get her, not if he was looking for a fight to the death. He’d have to take her out first.

How many tears were shed, she couldn’t count. They all came at once. Jason and Isaac looked more vengeful than sad but like father, like daughter, both her and Max had rivers. Max must have been the first to reach Jocelyn since his white shirt was blood red. How did he hold such an emotion in for so long until Eddie came and he retrieved them? Even the strong cry from the same things everyone else witnesses.

After that, who could say what happened. Eddie was depressed for what seemed like forever and Megatron once again got away with murder. Everyone was on high alert and it showed.   
\-------------------------------------

Mocking him, all of them, but he proved them wrong. From a miner to a top class gladiator to a world power tyrant, he always was right and won. And they mocked him.

Fools, each and every one. But who was laughing now?

Who _was_ laughing now? 

The answer to that was at first clear but now, for some reason, it was a blur. He had won, that was a no-brainer, but he still lost. How? He didn’t know, and no one changed the rules so how could that be? His mind was at war, not in the way he wanted, for whatever he wanted, he usually got, but not now. Why is that?

Is it because he didn’t kill Optimus like he had thought? Perhaps it was because he hadn’t completed his mission of revenge on those humans? What was it? 

No answer. There was always no answer from him, himself, _it_.

 _Who was laughing now?_  
\-------------------------------------------

_“God, this…this apparition of Cybertron is just horrid. And some of us wonder why we didn’t want them back in the first place…”_

_“We pray for the loss of Jocelyn Smith, Isabela Davis, and the other tormented family members of Lennox and Sumdac who have perished by this unholy demon…”_

_“What if this is just some prank gone horribly wrong by the government meant to scare these families into insanity to erase all memories left of the Transformers? It doesn’t seem right for only one to return after all these years…”_

_“We are calling a country wide emergency, especially for the state of Michigan. All cities are to be monitored and closed off from outsiders until we have evidence that this horror legend, ‘Megatron’, is dead. Since Halloween is approaching, we advise not to go Trick-or-Treating this year but if you do, please stay in a large group and stay on streets guarded by the military. This is no joke though I wish it were…”_

Everyone was afraid. Afraid to go anywhere near the woods, afraid to go to the nearest store, afraid to leave their homes. 

Some could say they missed the Transformers, the five major species with each their own multiple sub-species. People like Jack, Will, and Miko could name their favorites and talk about them all day. Others, younger generation at most, could tell you why they liked a certain Transformer because they sounded “awesome”, but they couldn’t tell you truly. 

Now and days since Megatron returned, no one uttered the words “Transformer” or “Cybertronian” without cringing at the thought. That’s what fear made you do. You could fear an entire vocabulary just because someone turned it into a root of a murder spree. What will children think now?

‘Oh, the Transformers are a race of scary monsters.’ 

‘The Decepticons ate humans while the Autobots killed you if they didn’t like you.’

The memory of what they once were seemed to only reside in those who actually met them. And it was probably going to be those memories die with them when they reach the grave. That’s how it was turning out. 

Kaylana’s mind was racing to a headache. Sari and Jocelyn were Megatron’s latest victims. Sari was more of a reasonable target, but Jocelyn? Poor girl, only an old family member met the Transformers once and that was a total of five hours, nothing more. She didn’t deserve a death, nor did the baby. 

This was getting too far out of hand. Megatron needed to be killed and fast. If he was the last of his species, it wouldn’t change her mind. A mech like Megatron was not someone you let live because they’re the last. If the species is dead, you’re going with it. Thankfully after Megatron’s gone, they won’t have to worry about any more Cybertronians trying to kill and take Earth. That is unless he can asexually reproduce, but that’s impossible. Right?

Disgust lit up her face. “Oh hell no,” she uttered. One ugly bastard was enough; there was no need for several more.

Arcee 2, one of Jack’s dogs, settled her head on Kaylana’s lap, whining at her to feed her. The woman could only scoff at the dog.

Oh how she would kill to see the real Arcee. From her granddad, she sounded beautiful, courageous, and perfect. Femmes were rare which was why Optimus and the team were so protective of her despite she could hold her own far more than most of them combined. Before Kaylana died, she wanted to meet the two-wheeler but by the havoc raining down on her now, she probably wasn’t.

With the Optimus voice impersonator in her palm, she sighed. This thing saved her but also doomed her. It was nice to hear what the Prime actually sounded like, but it depressed her how Megatron is beyond normally pissed off because she used his voice. Not only does the dude want to kill her but he also is attempting to relive his vendetta against the one he called “brother”. It would be quite the reaction to see when the silver tyrant realizes he’s been tricked, though that’ll ensure her death even more.

Maybe it was an overreaction. Maybe he’ll just die from old age before he reaches her. Maybe he’ll forget about her from memory loss. Maybe… Maybe…what else could she say? What were the chances any of these things would happen when she faces him? Paper thin slim is what she’s betting.

“What am I thinking?”

They say it’s the thought that counts and yes, it’s reasonable to give that person credit for creativity, but wake up and smell the carbon dioxide, all those thoughts are high hopes that will be flung down the toilet faster than lightning strikes the ground. Was it worth it? Eh. Better answer than what most would say.

Usually, it’s only one can survive or as Optimus would say, “One shall stand, and one shall fall.” What if both die? Problem solved? She didn’t know.

If one died while killing the other, it would ensure the latter’s death. With a Cybertronian weapon, if someone could get inside Megatron and extinguish his spark, he would die but the energy would implode, causing a shock wave to cut though the systems like a supernova as well as anything else too close to it. The killer of the killer. Now it was only a matter of finding someone to do it. None of the former NEST agents like Jack and Will would be allowed and Annabelle and Jake agreed to take care of all the children in case anything happened to their parents. Her mother and father, Sandy and Max, didn’t deserve to die either. That left her, Eddie, Isaac, and Jason.

Eddie was going through depression and would want to die but he’d probably get too carried away and get killed by acting through anger which doesn’t work for shit as it has been proven. Isaac and Jason were exactly the same way, but her? She had to take care of Maia but she had the voice translator and Megatron hates her guts to the extreme more so than anyone else at the moment.

She had to do it. It wasn’t a choice to say “fuck it” and let him kill everyone. Someone needed to kill him even if it meant maybe killing themselves. After all, she wanted more than anyone to meet a Transformer, and she had. Now she was going to end the life of that Transformer.

No sacrifice, no victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I used Micheal Bay's "No Sacrifice, No Victory" primarily because I like that saying though it was forgotten after the first movie. I didn't want to show Jocelyn's death mostly due to keeping the story somewhat realistic. You won't see every death on screen and it just adds to the terror the villain manipulates into a weapon. Speaking of weapons, I have a surprise for you.


	9. Dark Lullaby

Connor, Maia, and Carrie were monitored constantly at their daycare by the army and the caretakers of the facility. They knew those three were some of the primary targets of Megatron since the Cybertronian bruiser was aiming to demolish the blood lines of those families forever. So far, he was only killing the older members of the families, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t flip a coin and change his attack pattern. 

The three were content with only playing among one another, for other children’s parents didn’t want to risk endangering their own child with the targeted. It was a cruel demeanor but it was the norm in a situation such as this.

Maia squealed in delight as she was tagged by Carrie who ran under the playground monkey bars and play set to stay out of reach. Connor was hidden behind a slide, maneuvering around it to prevent detection whenever Maia got too close. When he accidentally popped his head up at the wrong moment, Maia climbed over the slide and proceeded to chase him.

In the distance, guards watched the children carefully, some even occasionally going over to confirm everything was alright. Though at times they were mindful of interactions with the minors, sometimes they were unavoidable and usually happened when they least expected it. The kids used their legs as barriers to escape being tagged and tried to hide behind one of the vehicles as well. 

An alarm precipitously activated, sending the troops on high alert. Megatron attacked again. “Get the kids into the Dragon X7 now! Take them to the A.S.B.A. A. Shelter in south town where they can be hidden until further notice. An F-300 truck will escort you guys there,” a soldier ordered, loading up everyone onto the vehicles for transportation.

The Dragon X7 (similar to the DARPA XC2V) wasn’t heavily weaponized mostly because it was used for undercover rescue and drop off missions. It also had a wide amount of seats for the fifteen soldiers it could carry, maybe slightly more. The F-300 (similar to the Cougar 6x6) was carrying weapons but like the Dragon X7, it never really used its monstrous cargo.

“Where are we going, Mister?” Carrie asked, holding her dark brown and orange dragon plush toy close to her.

The driver took a quick glance at his partner in the passenger seat before answering, “We’re…uh…going someplace safe so you can have fun without anybody…disturbing you.”

“Are you gonna stay with us?”

“Yes, of course. We are trusted with you so we have to stay-”

He felt a sharp sting as his partner hit him in the back of the head, shaking his own in disbelief at his words. “I-I mean…we want to stay with you and luckily for us, we get to. But we also have to look out for any bad people who want to hurt you so we can’t really play with you.”

Maia snorted, “Oh.”

The forest was quite a distance away, mainly because the military didn’t want Megatron to be able to perform sneak attacks with anybody they were protecting in one of their vehicles. Since she sat in the middle seat, Maia could see the big six-wheeled truck following close behind. It dwarfed the car they were in by a couple feet, both in length and width, as if it wanted to intimidate the other cars. But it wasn’t the biggest thing out there…that she could see.

Asphalt and concrete collapsed behind the Dragon, forcing every car including their own to freeze and slide to a halt. It felt like an earthquake just hit, crushing the F-300. The poor truck was flattened with metal flying off it in all directions and it was no more than an armored pancake in a second. The bitumen consumed the truck like an appetizer after it caved in under pressure. Something else sank into the newly formed hole with it.

“What the fuck was that!? It disappeared in the fucking-God damn it! All units this is Dragon Squad Car S572, something just took out the F-300 behind us and I’m praying it was just a quake.”

_“Negative, no earthquakes have hit by what we’re seeing on satellite scanners. Whatever is there wasn’t natural! Get out of there!”_

A blood-stained clawed hand suddenly ruptured through the rubble of the collapsed tarmac and went down, narrowly missing the rear bumper of the Dragon. It dragged its talons back, forming markings on the untouched asphalt’s surface with what looked like fresh human blood shadowing in the aftermath. As red eyes began peeking out, the soldier gunned the pedal.

In the mirror, to both soldiers’ horror, Megatron submerged back into the opening and a trail of uprooting blacktop was following. “The damn thing’s burrowed underground! It’s going to track us all the way to the safe house or stop us at some point!”

The passenger trooper latched a hand onto the handle above his door and the other grasped the seat in terror. “I did not sign up for this shit! When I joined the Army, I wanted to protect and kill humans, not fight a Godzilla metalloid motherfucker!”

“Quit your bitchin’! It’s making me want to have a heart atta-”

They jerked backwards almost immediately, both militants hitting the steering wheel and the front area at disturbing speeds. The children did the same but their seat belts saved them from smashing into the back of the two main seats and going through the window. Before they could register what happened, a car nailed the driver’s side, sending it into another vehicle that crushed the front passenger’s door. Then silence, with the exception of several car alarms.

Maia was the first to gain consciousness, ears fed with a terrible ringing and her sight blurry. When both fixed themselves, she slowly turned her head to her right where Connor sat still; his forehead and mouth were bleeding somewhat thickly. He stirred slightly after a minute, thankfully, making her turned again to her left where Carrie was; her plush toy was lying on the ground between the passenger side and the mid-section that separated the two front seats, its neck with a deep gash where stuffing was emerging. 

She couldn’t tell if Carrie was sleeping or not, even after several minutes. A cut, similar to the one on the dragon toy’s throat, was on her arm with a shard embedded into the fabric of the seat inches away from her neck. Maia tried to speak but her voice refused to work. Hesitantly, she looked at the two soldiers.  
One of them she couldn’t see except for a shoulder and part of his head against the cracked window, but blood was visible on the wheel. The other’s head rested on the dashboard, his blood flowing down, dripping carelessly onto his knees and floor. His arms drooped down, almost touching the floor as well. They too were not moving.

Then she heard someone cry on her left. As fast as she could (which wasn’t any faster than before), she peered back at Carrie who whimpered a few times over the shock before curling her legs to her chest. Tears leaked down the side of her cheeks, and who could blame her? Maia herself was crying, but for some reason, she couldn’t speak. Even Connor, who was finally fully awake, was making some sort of noise. She couldn’t. 

Maia noticed that she hadn’t looked at her own injuries. The sight of them made her want to scream, but that would be pointless. A glass shard was stuck in her left femur while part of her shirt were covered in blood from lacerations that weren’t deep but did enough damage for the pain to be unbearable. When she saw her reflection in the twisted rear view mirror, she could see her lower lip was busted and her nose had a gash as long as an adult’s thumb. 

“Hello, my poor babies,” a voice hissed. 

Something grey and large covered everything from the shattered window’s disastrous view before the same blood red optics they had seen before were beside them. However, the one that was fractured beyond repair stared at them, the other faced away from Maia’s sight. 

“Don’t worry,” he grinned, “I need you alive…for now. You’re the golden ticket to my way of extracting revenge on your dear mother, little Maia. This time, I am in control of the situation. Welcome to Hell, my dear.”

All Maia could do was watch as the Dragon X7’s roof was torn off and a large hand bore down on her.  
\--------------------------------------------------

_One hour prior…_

“I hate this TV!”

“You don’t hate the TV-”

“I do! It’s a dirty slut of a TV!” Lennox growled.

Annabelle rolled her eyes, “Okay, if you don’t like it then why do you even go through the trouble to turn it on?”

“Because I can! It may be a whore but it’s still my whore!”

“Why do I even bother…? You know what, I’m going to the store. Don’t destroy the TV before I get back!”

He slammed his fist on his old box of a television, dust rattling off the top in streaks. Black Hawk, his Doberman, simple groaned at the sight. Both didn’t pay any heed to her Mercedes leaving the driveway.

What Lennox couldn’t stand was the growth of technology. Even old technology was a nemesis of his. He despised it. Still, there was nothing he could do. Of course, the military and their fancy-dancy cars and weapons were no exception either. They were probably the worst. All those new weapons had no class unlike the elderly M-18’s, mini-guns, and the classic Remington shotguns. Those were REAL guns.

“Stupid jack-in-the-box crap…”

For some reason, the TV’s sound began lowering automatically and something faint started drowning out the TV’s news channel. At first, he ignored it, but it grew louder. Finally, he lowered the volume completely and listened.

A lullaby. Faint but still loud enough to catch one’s ear. And child’s laughter? 

It sounded ghostly, but it was music and laughter and…it was coming from his yard. From the trees where his sweet Reanna was brutally murdered to the grass that still had her blood soaked in the soil, it was there.

Simple notes yet oddly enchanting. It had to be _him_. He had come back for Annabelle, his baby. The brute had already killed one of his angels, he would die before he’d let anything happen to her again. But escaping death was not meant for him. Perhaps he could convince Megatron to leave her alone in exchange for his life? He knew better. Megatron will just continue killing no matter what.

Reluctantly, he got up, ready to face the music. Literally. 

When he went outside, a chill ran down his spine. He walked towards the tree line, turning his head back to give Black Hawk one last look before continuing on. He could hear the dog barking madly all of a sudden when he stopped.

Another child’s laugh mysteriously awoke the trees as they began to shake from the calm wind. “Clever boy, you’ve learned how to mimic a kid and play a song from your memory. I remember that song too. I haven’t forgotten how we used it around the base to give us hope, and hope we received. You think twisting its purpose by enacting it will do the exact opposite? You can’t scare me.”

“As that bitch said before she lost her head,” Megatron muttered, stepping out of the tall vegetation.

Both the laughter and the iconic lullaby stopped. “Do you have any idea how sick and tired I am of listening to this? _This_ helped my downfall. _This_ aided the disintegration of my power and the loss of my troops. Every time it played, I loathed it!”

“The ballad had nothing to do with your defeat. You did that to yourself. I understand you’re pissed but do consider you will never win. Even without that song, we would’ve found inspiration. You don’t get it do you, ‘Lord’ Megatron? You can kill and kill but you can never be victorious in battle. Kill me now! It won’t matter! I’ve already won! You’re just desecrating a dead body!”

Shaking his helm in annoyance and baring his teeth, Megatron lifted his pede and swiftly stomped on the old man, smirking as the sound of bones being crushed underfoot hit his audio receptors. He rubbed his pede deep into the grass to ensure death was pronounced. 

“Dad? Dad!” 

Annabelle had returned. He needed to find the children soon, and personally, he didn’t want to waste any more time. His semi-rusted purple cannon came to life, charging up in mere seconds. Aiming directly at the Lennox residence, he smiled wickedly. 

Black Hawk ran away from the door by instinct, but the poor dog couldn’t leave the house. Right before he fired, Annabelle opened the back yard door and froze in fear, eyes wide. The dog raced through her legs and left without pause. All she could do was stare.

“No William, I believe _I_ win this round.”

His index finger moved. In a flash, the whole house exploded into a purple-orange fireball, sending wood and sheet rock flying. Nothing stood in its place, only ashes remained.   
\-------------------------------------

_“Today, another family was lost. William and Annabelle Lennox were killed on their property by Megatron. And we’ve just got a report that the military vehicle carrying the three children of the targeted families was in a major car accident but the three kids are missing. The two soldiers with them were found dead and the backup vehicle, an F-300 by the looks of it, was dragged into a hole created by the monster robot himself. We have no word…hold on.”_

The Jumbo Tron’s screen that was displaying a LIVE news channel began shimmering static, attempting to reel a new face on its massive projector.

_“Jerry, what’s going on? What is this? I hate to inform…losing signal…alteration-”_

_“Attention, humans of Detroit! It is I, Megatron, and I demand your humble audience for a few seconds,”_ the image snarled. _“At 7:30 tonight, I am going to rebroadcast and I want the families of Darby and so on to tune in because I have a surprise for you. I am disappointed in your cowardice, to hide behind simple troops who can’t even protect your own children. The surprise will be something you do not want to miss, or people will die. Trust me, it’s for your sake and theirs._

_“Also, my patience is done for, Kaylana. Don’t try to be a hero and do something stupid. There are enough fools in the world, don’t be another. I know every trick your family has pulled on me and you will pay for it. Abandon that hope you still have, it will do you no good. However, I do believe a rematch is in order. I will have more details at 7:30. Until then, be on your guard.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two chapters will be a mind fuck. That's my warning to you. Also, can you guess what Maia's "minor" predicament other than the car accident is a reference to? No, think closely.


	10. The Definition of Monster

7:30 was almost here and the last Transformer purred in contentment, blood dripping from a toothy grin. He threw the remaining half of a human soldier across the room, zipping past the three younglings’ heads before splatting on the wall.

“Time to make an appearance once more, eh, my darling children? Be prepared to smile for the camera! No one wants their first ‘interview’ to look dreadful, now do they?” He smirked.

Flipping a few switches on the abandoned miniature broadcast dashboard, he hissed as he could see multiple camera views of humans either strolling in their daily lives or thousands of people, including police and the Army, gathering for his soon-to-be public announcement. Now it was time to see if the Darby clan was taking his threat to heart.

Using his digital coding to override the systems, he hacked into the television network and searched for the Darbys’ as well as the others’. Finally, he could see through the flat screen they had. The brat’s father and grandfather were there and a woman who reminded him of Carly Spencer, the girlfriend of Spike Witwicky, Sam’s relative. 

He spat the last name with utter malevolence. Sam was a pain in the fucking ass and his slut of a wife, Mikaela, was no drink of Energon either. One of them had taken out half of his face at one point which was a bitch, mind you, to repair! Good riddance to those two.

The clock’s nine reset to a zero. At last, 7:30 had arrived. He switched on the camera and recorder before setting everything to make the broadcast commence. The people’s reactions were immediately priceless.  
\--------------------------------------------

_“Attention, my pitiful little insects...and Darbys’, 7:30 has come and now I shall keep my promise by showing you the surprise!” He turned on the second camcorder with the frightened and injured children in view._

_“Recognize them? If you don’t, that’s because they took a bit of a...tumble...on our recent reunion. One of them seems to be slightly silent now which if you think about it, may be déjà vu to certain elders and especially me. Jack, my boy, you may remember something similar to this situation and even more so, dear Raphael...oh wait...he’s dead now!”_

“No...no!” Jack winced. “That tyrannical, evil fucker!”

Kaylana looked scared to her bones. “W-what does he mean!? What is he saying!? What did he do to my baby?!”

“She’s mute, like Bumblebee was. S-she’s lost her voice permanently by the same cruel monster who clawed out Optimus’ son’s. As if he couldn’t go any lower…”

“Oh god!” His granddaughter cried.

_“As for you, ‘Kaylie’, I look forward to seeing you in our next meeting and your expression as your daughter is crushed under my foot! You may find me near the former Sumdac Tower tomorrow night. I’ll personally see to it you are made a nice appetizer to quench my revenge so you can join your runt and Sari Sumdac. Do remember to give the old girl a kiss from me! Wait a minute; I’ve already given her one! Well, a second never hurts! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”_

Kaylana stared in horror as the TV turned to static, emitting a mechanical growl from the corrupted signal. “Oh God help us all!”  
\------------------------------------

Isaac, Jason, and others who had gathered around their TVs had no words, only the sheer looks of terror molding on their faces. Jake and Miko had watched from the hospital with two nurses standing by and they too were frozen.

Of all the things Megatron could have done, it was this.

“Damn you! Damn you to Hell!” Isaac scowled angrily. Tears formed on the edge of his lower eyelids. He could do nothing as they fell into the stale cup of coffee below. 

\------------------------------------

The following morning, everyone was stressed and judging by the faded dark circles below their eyes, none slept too well either. Some were loathing while others just sulked in their seats. The dreams, if any, had ended...and the true nightmare has begun.

“This is our last stand tonight. _My_ last stand guaranteed,” Kaylana said sourly. 

Her father groaned, “ _Our_ last stand. I-I won’t let you do this without me and I’m not returning if I can’t save both of you. That’s a promise!”

Jason stood silently with crossed arms as the two began arguing. When they finally brought their conversation to the children, he snapped. “Enough! We are not debating who’s dying for who and for what reason, even if it is about getting them back! We’re wasting valuable time! And I will not let Carrie, Connor, or Maia perish because you decided to fight about who does or does not leave with them! We act as a group! If one falls then that’s that but it will be defending for all of us, NOT just the kids!” 

Max huffed but didn’t counter Jason. Instead, he resumed looking at the coordinates Megatron had texted Kaylana for where they are to meet in Sumdac Tower.

“‘All for one and one for all’, guys. A team effort is what we need, not individuality.”

“Then I say if this truly is our final stand, I want to use whatever Jack has in his 73C storage cell. As long as it’s Cybertronian or similar, it can be used as a weapon and may be used to buy Kaylie enough time to figure out how to destroy the brute,” Isaac smirked. “What do you say, Darby? Mind if we raid your personal robot museum?”

Jack nodded but frowned, “I will need to retrieve something for you, Kaylie, but I’m afraid it will take me until tonight to get it so you’ll have to distract Megatron for the time being. Find out if you can get the children away from there then strike once you have. I should reach you by the time you figure something out, due to the fact I know Megatron loves to stall at times to make encounters more ‘painful’.”

The men and Kaylana grinned. “It’s payback time!”

\----------------------------------------

Megatron flashed his signature bloody grin at the weeping children, observing how they cringed even greater when he drew closer. “Don’t worry now! It’ll all be over soon, my younglings. I promise you, you will be with you parents...soon. And you will live happily ever after with them…” He grabbed the partially torn plushy that reminded him of Predaking and slowly pulled its head from its body with his digits. His voice grew darker and coarse as he finished, “ **Forever**.”

Carrie was crying harder as her stuffed dragon fell to the floor beside her chair in a heap of its own cotton innards. 

The former warlord merely glared at the child in disgust before turning away to monitor surveillance around the Tower. Impatiently, he tapped a scarred finger on the console. He knew Kaylana didn’t have the guts to come alone but he also could tell she wasn’t going to abandon her baby girl or the other two either. Parental instinct, such a disregarded sense in most humans. 

It was almost six in the evening. Although he failed to specify when she should arrive, he wanted her at those coordinates before fifteen after nine at least. Tardiness was a factor he couldn’t stand before and still can’t stand now.

Seven o’clock...no sign of the brat. Eight o’clock...guess she doesn’t really care for Maia. What a shame. Nine o’clock...finally. There stood Kaylana at the base of Sumdac Tower in all her little glory. Like a gladiator ready for battle. Megatron would be lying to himself if he didn’t consider that quite a turn on as the Gladiatorial Pits and preparing to fight opponents such as her always aroused him. Too bad she was human though.   
He felt his armor and joints creak as he stood to his full height. Admittedly, the human blood was not boding well. Rust spots became ever so visible over time around areas that could flex, limiting some of his mobility. It wouldn’t hold him down though. No, he’s been through worse.

He made his way to the windows peering across to the courtyard of the Tower before jumping through, using the building’s walls as adequate support to slide down without injury. He would transform, but some problems regarding the limited mobility also lingered to his T-Cog as well. Of course, Kaylana heard him and much to his dislike, most of the neighborhood did too since so many lights lit up nearby buildings immediately after he clawed his way down.

He landed with a sickly thud, joints rumbling as if they were hollow. “So, you did come? And no Optimus here? Good! Such a shame about Maia though. To be fair, I didn’t cause her vocal failure directly if that’s what you’re going to yell at me about,” Megatron sneered.

Kaylana shook her head with a scowl ever so present, “No yelling, no chatting. I’m done...I just want you to die and get my baby home. That’s all I wish for.” 

“Alright then. As the humans would say, ‘let’s dance’!” 

The poor woman had little time to move out of the way of his servo as it came crashing down with malicious speed. She eventually found herself beneath his torso dodging all four limbs. Angrily he tried to move in all directions to get her in his sights, but she kept under him to buy her time to think of a plan.

Suddenly, he reared before slamming his entire body down but once again, she ran before he hit the ground. She winced as he roared ferally. It was obvious she couldn’t verse him where she stood among his towering height, but perhaps a higher area? Then she remembered: Sumdac Tower! High enough that if Megatron fell, it would injure him greatly and if she hurt him enough, the fall would fatally make him succumb to his wounds. “Alright Tyrant, let’s see how good you are high up without the ability to fly!”

Without warning, she heard gunshots. Oblivious to her surroundings, she turned and saw her father and Jason firing on Megatron, Jason’s well-placed shot rupturing several wires under his shin armor. That definitely strayed the former warlord from his initial destructive path towards her. He turned relatively fast for a rusting mechanoid with a damaged leg.

Jason fired again, shattering his broken optic but before he could get another shot in, Megatron’s arm snapped at him, hand catching him. With the force of a 100 mph car, the human was thrown the wall of the Tower. Bones made sickening noises that made Kaylana want to vomit. He slid down the side, a blood streak in his wake. She swore she could hear his lungs straining for a brief second before he stared blankly at her, pupils dilating. 

Her radio lit up with Isaac’s voice, “Kaylie!? Kaylie!? I found the children! There in an old broadcasting station, the building Megatron appeared from!”

Quickly, she brought the device to her mouth. “Isaac! Jason’s dead! And my father is holding out for now! I need to go help him! Get Maia and the other two out of here, please!”

“Roger that!”

Apparently Megatron heard the radio chatter, for his remaining optic was now on his broadcasting station. “No!” Kaylana screamed as she ran towards the disgruntled mech. She ignored the sound of her father’s pleas to stay and withdrew her gun. Firing several shots into his neck and shoulder, she went under and past him into the old station and immediately climbed the stairs, hoping he wouldn’t try to go through the building rather than scale it. 

“Isaac!”

“Kaylie?”

Kaylana saw him with Carrie and Connor but no Maia. She noticed his frown, “Kaylie, what are you doing here! You’re supposed to distract Megatron, remember? Not bring him here!”

“First off, he heard me talk to you over the radio so he targeted this place and you! Secondly, where’s Maia!?” Kaylana stressed. 

The building instantly shook and Isaac quickly pulled the two children close to him. Megatron either was inside or preparing to climb outside...boy did she pray it was the latter. Connor suddenly spoke, “She’s scared.”

“What?” Kaylana looked around but still no sign of her baby. “Maia, sweetie, come out! Please! Everything’s going to be okay! Please, baby, please!” 

As the building began constantly trembling, getting louder as he got closer, a small shadow moved towards them before the hole in the structure let light hit it. There was Maia mouthing “Mama” over and over, tears staining green eyes. Quickly, she grabbed her mother’s legs, welcoming the swarm of kisses she received. “Oh baby, I’m so sorry! But it’s going to be okay now, alright?”

Isaac impatiently muttered, “Any day now to get the hell out of here before Satan’s Robot comes to kill us would be really wonderful!”

Kaylana picked Maia up and ran, Carrie and Connor being held by Isaac followed. Down the stairs, ducking by any windows to prevent Megatron from seeing them, they hurried to the back door on the ground floor. Megatron seemed to have not noticed they went down so that’s good. Isaac quickly set both children down before moving towards the exit. “Wait, I’ll check to see if it’s clear,” he spoke quietly. 

Kalyana nodded but noticed an unusual silence before harshly responding in a whisper, “Wait! It stopped!”

“What stopped?”

She pointed upward frantically. “The rumbles! He stopped!”

Isaac scoffed, “He’s probably wondering where we went. He doesn’t know we’re down here. He probably thinks we’re already out of the buil….”

Suddenly a servo broke through the floors above and scooped up Isaac who screamed ear-splittingly. Although she couldn’t see Megatron from where she stood, his shadow seemingly tearing him apart told her exactly what was happening as his cries echoed still. Quickly, she pushed Carrie and Connor out the exit, running behind them as they made a break from the hidden menace. They reached Eddie who was coaxing newly arrived military tanks into positions that could allow them to shoot as far as the Tower if Megatron came into their sights. 

“Eddie! Take the kids!” Kaylana screamed. The man turned to see two of the three children run past him into the squadron of awaiting soldiers who gladly took them to the nearest safe house. One waited for Maia who refused to let her mother go. 

“Maia, sweetie, this may be the last time I see you but know that I will always be with you...even if you can’t see me.” She fought the tears building in her eyelids. Maia began crying which made her heart sink lower.

Maia stood there in silence, crying. She could tell her daughter wanted to say something like, “Please don’t leave me, Mama! I love you!” 

Kaylana closed her eyes, “I know and I love you too, but you have to be strong now, you hear? You have to be strong!”

The waiting soldier walked up to them before carefully prying Maia from her mother in which she put up a fight in response, crying even harder. Kaylana could only watch with guilt as her daughter was taken to the safe house, but she had to continue with her mission. “Goodbye, baby girl.”

And she ran away. Tears finally breaking loose as she returned to the danger zone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this has returned too! And you are one chapter away from the finale! Ain't that exciting?


	11. Even Legends Fade

Kaylana stormed back into the battle zone towards the Tower. The task at hand was going to be a bitch alright but if Optimus can destroy Unicron and his clones, she could take down Megatron. Then again, Unicron was immobile in true form and his clones were made of breakable rock. “Don’t doubt yourself now,” she mumbled. 

Suddenly, a gunshot and a cry rang out but she couldn’t stop to see who it was from…because she knew it was her father’s. Tears once again threatened to spring out but now was not the time for remorse. He died to help her, to save Maia and Humanity. Blindly avenging him now would be an early death sentence she could not afford. She would join him soon but there was one last thing to do. 

She reached the doors to Sumdac Tower but found them locked up. Great…and it didn’t help that it was titanium glass, the strongest in the world thus far. She scowled until she heard fast moving footsteps running towards her. To her horror, Megatron was charging at her fully paced. From what she learned from her grandfather, Seeker class was the fastest known breed of Cybertronian both in the air and on the ground no matter how bulky they were. That didn’t count Blurr because technically he was a mix of Velocitronian and Cybertronian, not a pure bred.

Instinctively, she ran at him at the last moment to once again be under him, out of his line of sight for a brief time. Fortunately, he was moving too fast to where when he tried to turn around, his velocity sent him crashing through the Tower’s walls. At least he made an entrance to the damn thing. But then there was another problem: the Tower’s shields activated, leaving her and that monster trapped within the area together while help stood outside the impregnable energy force field.

She heard him roar as he kicked the side of the ruined wall before slamming his body into a non-broken side to bring himself up. By the time he finished, that wall was gone like its brethren. It seems he was now acting on blind rage rather than his infamous cleverness as he head-butted the damn shield beside her because she simply moved away and he didn’t even bother to turn.

“Come back here, maggot!” He hissed as he saw her head into the building. He roared again, this time running straight through the remaining slabs of wall on that side of the Tower. 

“You want me? Come and get me, you son of a bitch!”

She stopped at the elevator, pressed the highest level button, and smirked at his expression as the doors began to close. As the elevator rose, it suddenly shook madly but eventually maintained stability. Well that was the sign that he hit the elevator’s lower level area pretty good. She swore she heard him say the human f-word but paid no mind to it. The elevator froze out of the blue, an unusual creaking sound emitted from above. That wasn’t good!

As soon as the sound started, she hurriedly pried open the doors the best she could hold and noticed she had a midway gap between the floor and her elevator. Using all her strength, she breached the secondary doors to the floor semi open before sitting on the ground of the elevator and slipping through the gap to freedom. Nearly fifteen seconds later, the cables on the elevator snapped and she momentarily saw her former ride fall past the floor. Apparently, he halted the cables and cut them, not fast enough though. Never mind, he was still using his wits.

Scowling, she ran to the nearest stairway which she thought was almost halfway across the entire level. Whoever designed the stairway escape routes weren’t really nice or they just wanted people to work for their freedom. God damn sociopaths architects were. As she climbed the stairway to the roof, she could hear grumbling of what she assumed was Megatron’s voice. What he was saying escaped her, however.

Then the memory hit her. The voice changer! It was still in her back pocket. Now that she thought about it, hopefully she didn’t damage it through her encounters with Megatron as of recent. As she hit the one hundredth floor of the one hundred and three in the building, she brought it out and tested it. 

“Check. One, two, three.” It seemed in working order thankfully. Oh Optimus, where are you?

Finally, she reached the rooftop and by God, it had an amazing view. Dinobot Island, or North Sister Island, was a dot but she could still make out where the dormant volcanic crater was. The construction site where she exposed Megatron earlier in the year was now a full-fledged building with some unfinished parts. Oh, and the temporary Autobot base near the old Downtown area was still…well…disheveled. Turning towards the center of the roof, she smiled as she saw the old Space Bridge turned building decorative. It was a wonder if it still worked.

Cracking sounds began emerging from below and slowly, it got louder. Once again, Megatron was making his way up to greet her. As he drew closer, she hid behind the old control center for the Space Bridge, voice simulator at the ready.

Megatron, in a blink of an eye, crashed through the roof, sending bits of reinforced metal and cabling off the side of the building. He clawed himself up to the stable flooring, careful not to put too much pressure near the opening he created. Snarling, he observed his surroundings. With one optic, his sight was not as grand but it didn’t stop him from recognizing a Space Bridge. A smile unlike anything Kaylana had ever seen on him tugged at his lips. Not of malice or the arrogant shit-eating smirk he often was seen with, but of actual appreciation. The smile was forced down as he remembered why he was atop the Tower.

“Well, fleshling, I have to give it to you. You are just like Jack, Sam, and all the other human scum that have opposed me and lived. I’ll admit they were quite genuine for their species and so are you. But even the greatest have their ends,” the former warlord droned. 

Kaylana placed the voice changer near her mouth, “Yes, they do. We’re also the greatest of our species, are we not? So you are just as doomed as her.”

Megatron’s expression changed from scared to confused in a matter of seconds. There was no one among him but the human femme; he could sense that! He moved in a circle, scouting his limited surroundings but no one was there…unless Optimus somehow learned how to fly and turn invisible? His good optic narrowed while the missing simply leaked more blood from the gesture. “You aren’t real, are you?”

“No, he’s not but I am!” Optimus’ supposed voice called out from above.

Growling, he peered up to see Kaylana on the Space Bridge’s lower platform with what he assumed was a voice changer. Clever little insect. “So that’s how you did it? That’s the same trick the soldier and Prime’s pet human used on me back then, imitating the voices of my enemies to attract me. I found out a little too late before we had to leave.”

Kaylana turned off the voice changer before she replied, “Had to? What do you mean?”

Megatron clicked his tongue as blood from his eye socket seeped into his mouth. “Well since you will die today, might as well tell you the truth. After all, it’s not like it’ll leave this rooftop.”

His chassis sulked a little but he kept it firm as he was never one to show weakness among his enemies, after all. “Years ago when I went ‘berserk’, as your fellow humans put it, my chaos began getting to the minds of all of our kind, including Optimus’. Well one day, I found out I wasn’t the only one who lost his processor. Optimus demanded everyone to leave or he’d kill any who defied his command. He said it was for the greater good of Earth and Cybertron. So we did though he managed to capture me and some who hesitated, including the bug known as Bumblebee.”

“He dragged us out to the middle of nowhere and told us to stay or he would snuff out our sparks on sight. Some people didn’t believe him and tried to get off that barren rock face. They didn’t get far as the Prime put a damn hole in their frames. And I was laughing the entire time. Oh, how the tables have turned I thought, but I couldn’t stay still either so I began growing restless. I took the time to hunt and destroy each and every one of my enemies, former allies and non, until very few remained. I will admit I fed on a good number as no Energon was present there and I had no plans to die so soon.

“As I hunted, I realized Optimus was starving us to death as well as himself. He was going to destroy our species to protect all other innocents. In a way, he did with my help. Of course, I don’t think he planned on me killing them for energy nor turning our banishment into a hunting game. Eventually, I got the third to last Cybertronian alive, Arcee, leaving the Prime the only target for me to kill. It was finally the last battle to end all. As you can guess, Optimus is no more. It seems he was too low on fuel levels to fight me so for once, I mercifully killed him in our somewhat brief struggle.

“If there are any surviving ‘Transformers’, as your kind once named us, they probably aren’t coming back. Cybertronians, Velocitronians, Junkions, Kanjians, Aquatronians, Quintessions; we’re all gone, planets and all. And I am the last known alive. Make of that what you will, my dear.”

Kaylana shook her head, “I don’t believe you! Optimus would never…!”

“Never what!? Harm his own species to protect another, even his own Autobots? Not help a long, lost friend when that friend finally needed aid because he was tired of waiting and that friend didn’t agree with him in the first place?” Megatron bellowed. “Optimus may have been a saint before he became a Prime and Cybertron fell but even time could not stop him from becoming just like me, even when he refused to see it! He is a monster like me; ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ as the expression rings true! You don’t know him like I do and I knew he would fall one way or another. It was only a matter of time. And he was no hero.”

“At least he would save a species than enslave or destroy it!” A voice yelled.

Both Kaylana and Megatron set their sights on Jack, who stood with something hitched to his back. Miko was beside him, the recognizable faded pink highlights in her hair still hung proudly. The ex-warmonger sneered while Kaylana raised a brow, “I thought the Tower’s shields prevented anybody from getting in?” 

Jack nodded with a smirk, “Yes, but it helps to know the secret passageways you built under the building during the Cybertronian War to lead other humans to safety within the guarded sanctuary that is this building, is it not?”

The old human reached back to grab the item perched parallel to his spine. It was clothed but after stripping it, there was a sword with several Cybertronian symbols lining its grip and base. In the middle of the blade was a rhombus shaped gem of sorts, an Energon Crystal most likely. “‘The Sword of Primus’ we named it, and I hid it before Optimus left with the others.”

Suddenly, Jack threw it at Kaylana; she caught it by its handle thankfully but she could only stare in fascination at its beauty. But then in the corner of her eye, she saw Megatron charge. Not at her, but rather, at Jack and Miko. “Move now!” She shrieked in fear, but they acted like they didn’t hear her.

All she heard before the two met Megatron face to face was Jack mouthing, “Hello, old friend.” Miko smiled alongside him and held his arm in her own as the two were suddenly rammed by the mech’s face off the edge of the roof. Kaylana watched in fear as they fell, Miko held in her grandfather’s arms almost flawlessly. Their expressions bore no sadness, no panic; the perfect way to die. When they were no longer visible to her, she raised the Sword near her, examining its features a second longer before turning her vision to the only other being on the roof. 

Megatron licked his Cheshire bloody lips in contentment, shaking his head like a bull getting ready to join the battle. “This ends here!”

“Couldn’t agree more!” Kaylana growled.

Megatron ran towards the Space Bridge, intending to bring it down. His jaws opened wide and snapped constantly in frustration. As soon as he got close enough, he noticed a little too late the girl had jumped with the sword ready to penetrate his armor. He wasn’t able to maneuver away completely before a sudden pain pierced his back. Another roar emitted from his vocals as he reached behind to grab her.

Kaylana removed the embedded Energon-stained and climbed up to his neck, holding on for dear life as he bucked and shook madly. When she was close enough, she immediately raised the blade and launched it down on where the spine of the neck would be. It sank a good few feet prior to Energon spraying out of the wound. She grasped his armor and pulled out the weapon again as he sprung up at the strike. It was obvious this time his expression was not of anger most likely, but of pure fear as she felt him shudder briefly.

Sensing she had let down her guard for a second to wonder about his emotions, he whipped his head around at blazing speeds that threw her and her sword off of his backside. Her cries as she hit the roof made his pupil dilate and focus directly at her. He took a few steps before slamming both fists down blindly. They didn’t get her but they sent her good length away from him as he recuperated from the two antagonizing blows. 

His vision suddenly began throbbing from blurred to normal. The Energon loss specifically at his spine was starting to take its toll, including corrupting his visual judgment. One moment he saw she was on the ground, the next she was running back towards him with the sword gripped by her side. Jaws snapping again, he lowered his head quickly to bite her in half. 

Out of nowhere, searing pain shot throughout his system unlike anything he had ever felt before…except once long ago. He bellowed loudly with a new type roar even he didn’t recognize. His upper jaw frozen, head bent at a horrible angle. He couldn’t close his lower out of shock and the rest of his body was perched on all fours like a settled cat, also immobile in numbness. Blood, both his and what he assumed was hers, dripped on his tongue before he could feel finally what could have been the sword implanted in the roof of his mouth. He could hear her moaning in pain too and when feeling returned to his teeth, he knew why.

Her upper arm had been stabbed by one of his front teeth when she had brought the sword up to his downward clenching jaws. It seemed stuck or broken since whenever she tried to move it, it didn’t want to budge. The sword, however, was still grasped by her very tightly so when she jolted, it sent another tear-jerking wave through the Cybertronian warlord. Thankfully, she managed to release her limb from the sharp canine and with it, her weapon too.

She grabbed her arm as blood continued to soak her sleeve while Megatron bolted upright before tumbling onto his side. A strained wail sounded from him while she grimaced. Tears were streaking down her cheeks like an endless river. She suddenly peered up to see how helpless the tyrant looked right now. She could kill him like he did to Sari, Jack, Miko, and all the others who died under his brief care…if you could even call it that. They were all helpless and now he was too. She couldn’t help but let a sick smile play on her lips as she lifted the sword again.

Despite the agony that pulsed through her whenever she moved her arm, she still charged with her weapon drawn at the ready. She noticed his optic narrowed onto her when she got too close but she was prepared. She swiped at him again but this time, it slit his throat. He backed up in a flash as if he had been pushed.

Kaylana smirked as he held his servos to clasp his jugular now raining Energon over his torso and the ground now covered in a puddle larger than even her. “Revenge is a bitch, ain’t it?” She mumbled cynically. 

His roars began to darken and fade whenever he attempted. His voice seemed to have died as he tried to scream her name or one of his nicknames he gave to humans. The only sounds he could make were stressed growls. He stumbled on all fours as he could no longer bring himself to stand anymore from the dizziness that was reigning supreme throughout his processor. Giving her a blank bellow, he lunged again but she moved out of the way, causing his face to hit the roof. He slid of few feet before he felt another strike of her weapon.

His deaf scream tried to sound again when the sword pierced his last optic, blinding him completely. As she pulled away, he dragged his lower jaw across some of the roof before lifting it, his legs attempting to find stability. Now he couldn’t see her and for once, panic started to set in permanently. This human was relentless! But a part of him already knew because of what he had done indeed affected her, and she was out for blood just as he was.

Kaylana ran yet again at him but through her similarly blind rage to that of the mech, she failed to see him began to swipe at the sound of her footsteps with one of his servos while he was backing away slowly in terror. The first swipe was off a few feet, the second nearly came close, but the third was the charm and she found herself gasping for breath as she was tossed to the edge of the roof. Trying to stand, she wrapped her good arm around her ribcage with an indignant cry. She sobbed as she could feel several ribs broken and facing inward towards her organs. One area over her lung felt heavy and hurting extremely where she assumed a rib punctured it.

She shot her head up to see him sniffing in the direction of her, a trail of Energon leaking from his eyes onto the surface of the roof as he moved closer. His helm got too close for comfort when all of a sudden the roof began to crack where Megatron stood on weak joints. She jumped up, grabbed her sword, and swung it at his elbow, severing a good portion of it before running towards his right knee and doing the same. 

Megatron collapse onto the unstable roof before attempting to turn himself around. He clawed up to where it was cracking as his area began to tilt downward to the Tower front entrance. His pawing caught Kaylana at random. The girl let out a scream as she was dragged back by the tyrant. He stopped fighting the pull of gravity when he realized he had her but as he fell, he gave one last roar of defeat.

Kaylana fell with him, tumbling to the concrete below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun da! No this isn't the last chapter, the next one is so tune in! Also, I have a little something for you next chapter too.


	12. We Happy Few

Everyone gasped as they witnessed their city’s infamous monster tumble with who they assumed was Kaylana in tow. They watched in horror as the two opponents grew closer to the ground before a massive quake rippled through Detroit…then silence. 

As smoke from impact arose a murky tan-gray, a sword fell nearby embedding itself deep into the cracked concrete hilt up with a loud sound. Those close to the blade noticed its light gray coloring faded a darker shade as if it too had met its end. Others swarmed the crash site with military and police making sure it was safe to approach. Another audible wave of gasps erupted from the crowd as camera-bots circled the site from above, capturing every moment live.

There before them lay Megatron on his front, Energon pooling beneath his chest and throat from gaping wounds too horrid to look upon. One of his arms were outstretched slightly and bent at the elbow upward with his hand bending towards the dirt, claws stuck in the earth obviously limp. His helm lay on its right side peering with holes for eyes at the Tower’s base; his mouth open with a few teeth dislodged from the impact. His optics though almost appeared as if he was crying from how much Energon was pouring down from the empty sockets.

Beside him, much to everyone’s already strained horror, there was Kaylana. Her own blood seemed to blend with Megatron’s as she lay next to his other arm. Although it was obvious she landed on her back and what sight awaited them when they turned her over was probably not going to be pretty considering falling from that height was too much for the human body’s structural stability, her front nevertheless seemed at peace minus the major wound in her abdomen and massive scratches. 

No one could pity Megatron with his mangled corpse but for Kaylana and Jack and Miko, they mourned. Almost all the soldiers took off their helmets in respect for the only humans that stood their ground against Detroit’s legendary warlord whom they did not believe. The only humans that cared enough to remember them…the Transformers. 

As the live feed of the close ups of the deceased Kaylana and Megatron spread around the world, as newspapers and the Internet streamed the horror of the aftermath of the battle, the world could only stare in awe and cry. Now the world knew; now the world remembered.  
\--------------------------------------------------------

October 9th, Kaylana’s birthday, became a state holiday for Michigan at first before the President named it a national holiday. Eventually, the world took the day officially as well. This holiday celebrated not only her, her family, and her family’s friends’ dedication to rid the world of the threat that was the tyrannical Decepticon warlord, but it became the day the world honored their alien brethren that were lost in time. 

Memorabilia from Jack’s 73C warehouse were shipped to a museum known as The Treasures of Cybertron along with his old dated stories of his adventures with the Transformers. Years’ worth of stories recalling the time he met them to the time they disappeared were documented. These also included bios of all types of Transformers he encountered in his younger years, Autobot, Decepticon, and all. The museum itself became enlisted on the Seven Wonders of the World as its appearance and culture were based off of Jack’s drawn designs of Cybertronian technology.

Megatron’s body was welded back together and placed among the museum’s ancient items like how an uncovered fossilized dinosaur would be shown as a reference to how massive and mighty they seemed. It was fitting for how much hell he had driven the human race through. If it was any other Transformer, they would have been properly buried. Not the warlord though. If he wanted to be a monster, then he’d be stuffed and displayed as a monstrous animal he demonstrated himself to be. 

Even dead and presented as a taxidermy corpse, he still scared all greatly. It didn’t help that he was posed jaws gaping open with razor sharp teeth threateningly revealed as if he was roaring; his replaced red optics with pinkish white semi-slit pupils terrifyingly existing to be staring at you no matter where you go. His body was modeled to appear like a big cat’s natural pose of all fours on a metallic rock structure. Hind legs bent at the knees beside the structure, left arm bent to grasp one area of the rock as if he was preparing to hoist himself up on said structure while the other arm bent inward and above all other limbs as if he was preparing to claw strike something…or someone. And of course, his helm was made to peer down at all the visitors who approached his new domain.

Last but not least, the graves of Kaylana and all who died with her to save humanity were given statues to represent their history with the Transformers. In a cylindrical tomb site hidden below by said statues, all of them lied. All statues were placed in a circle themselves with a pillar in the middle that held Kaylana’s statue: the real Sword of Primus embedded in a Decepticon emblem with Kaylana and her father, Max, posed in front of it. Over all three stood Optimus, proud and just. 

Around her there was Miko’s statue that had a younger, teenage version of the latter among the lumbering yet kind brute known as Bulkhead. Jack’s statue had a young Jack sitting on the one called Arcee’s shoulder. Although Raf had died before Megatron’s return, he was nevertheless buried among his friends and his younger statue depicted him and a computer with the lovable scout, Bumblebee, watching over his shoulder. A younger Will, Sarah, Annabelle, and Reanna seemed to be hanging onto Ironhide and Ratchet respectively. Sari seemed content sitting on the shoulder of Ultra Magnus who held the Forge of Solus Prime, also labeled as the StormBringer in Jack’s notes. Isabel and Isaac, despite never meeting them, seemed to be partnered with Jazz and Prowl. James and his wife, Lani, were also given representation with Robert Epps as well as Wheeljack and Cliffjumper. Jason, surprisingly, looked smug among Blurr who stood a similar crossed-arms-with-a-grin look.

Engraved around the outside of the cylinder memorial were different types of Transformers as well as events and objects experienced by them, some of which were recognized as the Allspark and the Matrix of Leadership. What was even more glorious was the fact that all of it including the statues could light up at night with their respective color schemes.

Other symbols of respect eventually spawned around the world as well but none were as great as these that lied within Detroit itself.  
\--------------------------------------------------------

_4 years later…_

She may have lost her family but she never forgot their sacrifice. Her grandmother, Uncle Eddie, and Uncle Jake helped raise her and her friends, Connor and Carrie in their absence. Although strained, her small family was the best she could ever ask for. 

She approached the tomb site with the statues, smiling up at her mother’s that had three doves perched on her shoulders and head in contentment. The birds were at peace, barely batting their visitor an eye. Maia looked down at her chest and held up the item around her neck in her palm. In her grasp was the voice changer that, despite obtaining damage during the fall, was repaired and now was kept on her person at all times as necklace. Almost like how her Great Aunt Sari used to do with the Allspark empowered key even though the latter eventually lost its abilities from being kept away from its power donor for too long.

Maia climbed on top of the center pillar and kissed both the sword and her mother’s statue’s cheek before doing the same for the rest of the statues that represented her great aunts, grandfather, great grandfather, and all her family friends. Thankfully, the city allowed her and her friends to do that since this was their family after all. Plus, she was in walking distance from her home if that isn’t a sweetened bonus. She eventually got back down and bashfully twirled the voice changer in her palm.

She wished she could have her own voice back for one moment just to say the lost words of “I love you” and if the brief moment allowed her to also say how proud she was of her mother, she would ramble about that too until her moment expired. An old friend of her great grandfather’s once said, “No sacrifice, no victory.” For one of her age of seven, she knew its definition better than even all the adults she ever encountered in life thus far despite she was 3 years old when Megatron returned to wreak havoc on Detroit’s survivors of Cybertronian affiliation as well as their descendants. 

**“Hello.”**

She quickly turned to peek behind her. That was…unusual. The voice sounded like it was both female and male, but the female’s voice was more pronounced. What spooked her even more was the fact that the voice seemed to echo yet it also seemed very close to her. But there was no one in sight. The tree line was too far away for anyone to be able to hide.

Echoed giggling sounded this time but it was in front of the statues which she turned to face again. This time though the voice expressed a more childish tone, but sometimes giggling didn’t always match a person’s normal vocal range.

**“Maia. We are here.”**

Now Maia had quite the sense of humor, even towards pranks aimed against her but this was ridiculous. 

**“Follow us. We know the way. We are not through yet. We still have work to do. Follow us, please.”**

A flash suddenly erupted in front of Raf’s statue prior to a white-light blue energy orb seemed to be floating in front of him. Maia stood completely frozen at the sight not knowing what to do, whether she should follow the entity or not. It hovered closer a bit before instantly looping around her almost in a playful manner. It resumed its steady spot after a while.

**“Follow us, please. Do not be frightened of us.”**

She nodded at the orb and began running as the energy ball moved at a relative medium jogging pace. If she slowed down in speed, the sphere accommodated her to allow a breather or two before returning to its original pace once she sped up. 

Through the forest she ran, the orb guiding her through. Hopefully, no one saw her or they’d probably call her grandmother which would also possibly give the latter a heart attack in fear. She leapt over a rock cluster and charged through a free-flowing river before she noticed the sphere stopped at a rock face. She huffed for air as she tried to make sense of the reason for the halt. The energy entity apparently read her thoughts.

**“Not all was lost in time as we tried to save the last remnants of our home. We would be most gracious if you would help us care for this piece of history.”**

The orb drifted towards the rock face before seemingly disappearing through it. Maia turned her head to the side, mouth gaping open in astonishment as the rock apparently sunk into the ground revealing a passage of some sort. The ball of energy began moving again once in view towards the back of the tunnel. Reluctantly, Maia followed as she was told beforehand.

She stayed moderately close to the orb since the darkness appeared to only get thicker as they moved deeper. But she was wrong. Eventually, the tunnel started to lead to a bluish light source, somewhat a similar color to the sphere’s coloring. When she reached the end, her mouth dropped to the floor at the sight. Strange blue crystals grew from the dirt and the rocky soil walls throughout the cavern. Hell, some were even on the ceiling of the cave though their sharp ends made their appearance rather deadly if one decided to break free and fall.

The orb unexpectedly jolted to the end of the cave where another shorter tunnel rested but thankfully, it had the crystals lighting it so she didn’t have to rely on the sphere itself for brightness. Maia ran after the no longer visible ball of light only to find another chamber of the cavern. As soon as she paused in the middle of the room, a gurgled squeak echoed. 

Maia stayed perfectly still to hear the sound again realizing it was coming from a pocket of uneven ground shaped almost like a nest with what appeared to be shards of metal peeping out. The said shards suddenly retreated downward for a second or two before slowly peeking back out. Slowly Maia approached it, getting on her hands and knees to seem a little less scary to whatever lied inside the unleveled grounding. The metal squeaked again before submerging once more. 

**“All you have to do is guide her, she will follow.”**

Out of impatience, Maia scrambled to view into the lowered patch…only to see two feet with what appeared to be small tire-like kibble on its heels scuttle into a hole in the side of the ditch. Sheer curiosity got the better of her. She lowered her face to look into the dark cavity but something bumped into her as she got close, purple eyes with light pink pupils evenly placed in comparison with hers. Moving her head back into the lit cavern to see what was leaning against her face revealed a silver face and a soft blue colored head with purple highlights, crest, and cheek items near silver circles which was what she assumed was its ears or something.

The creature perked up at the sight of its guest and removed its face from hers, smiling gently before cooing in a metallic voice. As it climbed out of its nest, she could see its armor was the same as its head, with the exception of its waist, hands, thighs, neck, and upper arms in which the first two were silver and the rest were a matte black. Similar purple kibble lined its wrists, part of its chest, abdomen, and legs.

It was a Transformer. A real life Transformer! Judging by its frame make, it also seemed to be a femme too. 

A flash popped up behind her again, the orb lingering beside her with a sense of security upon its warm glow.

**“Grasp hope, for the future is only as lost as you want it to be. Take care of the future and it will take care of you. We will see you again soon.”**

The luminous sphere began to rotate around both of them before suddenly shooting up through the ceiling, revealing an exit and a dirt trail upward toward the surface. The sparkly sky looked down upon them with glee as the orb deceptively took its place next to another star that promptly began to blaze brilliant than even the Moon present.

Maia smiled at it before turning to the sparkling. Hesitantly, she began rubbing its cheek kibble, making sure, of course, that it was real and not a hallucination. But then again it did physically push its face up against hers. It was best to make sure. Maia looked into the eyes of the small Transformer and continued to smile. 

Another thing she learned most still didn’t know was that the end of something always leads to the beginning of something else. Megatron’s demise and her mother’s sacrifice may have been the end of their journeys, but hers was just beginning as was this sparkling’s. Fate seemed to have other plans for them both and she was more than willing to take the chances.

Above them, if they were to look up into the night, both would see the two stars shining bright side by side before the one that once was the mysterious orb abruptly shoots and disappears into the other, making its companion glow even livelier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have lied when I said another Transformer besides Megatron would not appear but seriously, did you actually think I would have left it as they all died? Even I'm not that heartless.
> 
> And yes, this is the last chapter so I hope you enjoyed the story guys! What happens next is entirely up to you.


End file.
